“I have received yours of the 16th inst. (October 1864), and also two parcels of Ascidians. I shall be most happy to receive and name for you any Tunicata you may send. Our communications may be mutually advantageous, as I should like to have information concerning the Tunicata of your coast, being engaged upon a work on the British species. In the first parcel that came, I could only find one specimen, though you mention parts of two or three. It was, I think, a Botryllida encrusting the stem of a seaweed, but of what species I cannot say. In the second parcel, received this morning, there is a piece of _Leptoclinum punctatum_, and also part of an Ascidian which appears to be _A. parallelogramma_. The Botryllida are very difficult to distinguish unless they are quite fresh. I have never heard of _Aplidium lobatum_ being found in this country. It is a Red Sea and Mediterranean species. . . . I am much obliged to my friend Mr. Norman for recommending you to send specimens to me, and I shall be glad to hear from you again.”
The specimen of _Aplidium lobatum_ which Edward sent to Mr. Alder, was cast ashore at Banff; though its usual habitat is the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean.
In a future letter Mr. Alder says: “I received your box containing a specimen of _Ascidia sordida_ (young), and also a Zoophyte, the _Alcyonidium gelatinosum_, for which accept my thanks. I see that you have been very successful in discovering small fish. Your account of them is very interesting. I wish any one on our coast would pay attention to these things, but we have no one living permanently on the coast that cares anything about Natural History.”
Edward afterwards discovered a fine specimen of the _Onychoteuthes Bartlingii_ or _Banksii_. It was the first met with in Britain,—the range of the species being said to be from Norway to the Cape and Indian Ocean. This specimen was found on the beach betwixt the mouth of the river Deveron and the town of Macduff. Doubtless many other specimens of this and other marine animals had been cast upon the beach before, but no one had taken the trouble to look for or observe them. Many, also, of the fishes and marine objects which Edward was the first to discover, had probably been haunting the Moray Firth for hundreds or thousands of years; but science had not yet been born in the district, and there were none who had the seeing eye and the observant faculties of our Banffshire Naturalist.