Specimens

Hill apologises for the long delay in replying to Ewart's letter. He states that he has no knowledge concerning the appearance of scale papillae, but will hunt for any hybrid embryos he has preserved in spirit and send them on.

Ritchie provides details about a paper he has seen in Nature concerning the moulting of the Hoatzin bird from down into feathers. He wonders whether Ewart should try to obtain a loan of the specimens or a sample of the down for examination.

Christison, writing on behalf of the Court of the University of Edinburgh , asks Ewart to consider a forwarded letter from James Hope (Honorary Secretary of the Students' Representative Council, University of Edinburgh) regarding the imposition of a fee on Ewart's class of Practical History for specimen supplies.

Gregory writes that the lower jaw of a horse has been discovered in the upper drifts filling the pre-glacial valley of the Clyde at Lanark. He suspects that it dates from around the Early Neolithic period. He asks Ewart to look at the specimen and write a short note on it for inclusion in the Hunterian Museum glacial vertebrate fossils.

Duerst writes that he has molars from heavy horses but not from Westeregeln or Thiede, and recommends that Ewart contact Professor Dr Hesse. He has studied the skeleton of the Remagen horse only rapidly and believes it is possible that the metatarsel in question may belong to another specimen.

Bassett asks Ewart where he can trace the authority for Ewart's assertion in his 1920 lecture that the only bird in the world to have the rudiments of teeth in its mouth was 'Springops' [sic] the New Zealand parrot. He has examined 20 stuffed specimens in the Christchurch Museum but the mouths were not well preserved enough.

Hobday tells Ewart of the existence of two foetuses of thoroughbreds preserved in spirit. Being aware that Ewart had made an appeal for horse specimens, Hobday recommends that Ewart contact the veterinary surgeon in Lincolnshire, where the specimens are located.

Gilmour offers £5 or £10 to assist with the pony for the British Museum and asks whether the specimen will be killed at once.

Mortensen writes concerning his query about P. phiale, a type of Pourtalesia, which he is trying to identify correctly from Wyville Thomson's description in his 'Memoir on the Echinoidea of the Porcupine Expedition' (1874) and from A. Agasse's report on the Challenger expedition. He asks if Ewart whether the 'Edinburgh Museum' might have a specimen for him to compare with his own.

Matthews, an old pupil of Ewart's, tells him of two 'hand-like structures' that a fisherman removed from the side of a fish near Port Seton. He offers to bring the specimens to the University for Ewart's examination.