MR. NEWMAN OF ‘THE ZOOLOGIST’.
Mr. Edward Newman of London, editor of the Zoologist, was one of those who helped Edward with books. He also named many of Edward’s Beetles and other Insects, which were sent to him for identification. The correspondence[46] between them originated in Edward’s articles on the Birds of Banffshire, which began to appear in the Zoologist in August 1856. Mr. Newman sent Edward several books on Natural History, together with his own List of British Birds. In February 1858 we find Mr. Newman sending Edward a copy of the Insect Hunters, his most successful book. Mr. Newman said to Edward, “I think it really wonderful that you should have acquired the great knowledge you have obtained under the circumstances in which you have been placed.” Mr. Newman asked for some information about fishes, which Edward promised to supply. The result was, that many new fishes were found in the Moray Firth, simply from Edward’s determination to search, collect, and preserve them.
Edward had also much correspondence with Mr. Alexander G. More, with respect to the distribution of birds in Great Britain during the nesting season. Edward was appointed the observer for Banffshire and the northern part of Aberdeen. He communicated a great deal of information about Birds and Bird-nesting, which was afterwards published in the periodical called The Ibis.
But his most important communications were with Mr. Couch as to Fishes; and with Mr. Spence Bate, and the Rev. A. Merle Norman, as to Crustacea; which will form the subjects of the following chapters.
CHAPTER XV.
DISCOVERIES AMONG THE CRUSTACEA.
The reader will find this chapter, as well as the next, rather uninteresting. But it is necessary that the chapters should be written, in order to show the contributions which Edward made to the scientific discoveries of his day.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. BATE.
Mr. C. Spence Bate of Plymouth, the well-known zoologist, entered into correspondence with Edward in 1856, while the latter was engaged in collecting marine objects along the sea-coast of Banff. It appears that Mr. Bate had sent to Edward some publications on Natural History, and that Edward requested Mr. Bate to name the various Crustaceans which he sent him. To this Mr. Bate willingly assented, and a correspondence began between them, which continued for many years. Most of the letters have been lost, and those which have been preserved “in the box in the lumber garret” are not of very great interest.