MAEINE ZOOLOGY 113 
be judged very leniently. I have endeavoured to be care- 
ful, and when the motion of the ship is such that my things 
have to be lashed to the table and I have to balance myself 
to examine anything under the microscope I fear many 
errors have crept in. . . . 
To Us Father 
August 24, 1841. 
Much do I wish that I had opportunity to devote myself 
entirely to collecting plants and studying them, but I want 
you to know how I am situated, that we are comparatively 
seldom off the sea, and then in the most unpropitious seasons 
for travelling or collecting. This is my main reason for 
devoting my time to the Crustaceae, &c., a study to which 
I am not attached, and which I have no intention of sticking 
to. My other reasons are that there is no one else to study 
what there will be no other opportunity in all probability 
of seeing alive, and the ready use of the pencil is indispensable 
to the subject. Again, the discoveries we have hitherto 
made are not only beautiful but most wonderful, curious 
and novel. The collection is almost all of my own making 
and Capt. Boss's (altogether indeed). No other vessel or 
collector can ever enjoy the opportunities of constant 
sounding and dredging and the use of the Towing-net that 
we do, nor is it probable that any future collector will have 
a Captain so devoted to the cause of Marine zoology, and 
so constantly on the alert to snatch the most trifling oppor- 
tunities of adding to the collection, and lastly, it is my 
only means of improving the expedition much to my own 
advantage (as far as fame goes) or to the public, for whom 
I am bound to use my best endeavours. I again repeat 
that I have no intention of prosecuting the study further 
than I think myself in duty bound. In harbour I only 
collect them with Seaweeds, and never draw or do anything 
but stow them away ; and as for [when I am] at sea, I hope 
the notes and drawings I sent home will show that I do not 
neglect Botany, nay, that I have spent as much time, as 
the heavy seas and bad weather of 70° S., would allow me 
to plants and mosses. All this renders me most anxious 
to see the termination of the voyage, for I have no wish but 
to continue at Plants. Not that I am anything but extremely 
