| Collection | GB 0231 University of Aberdeen, Special Collections |
| Level | Item |
| Ref No | MS 38/61 |
| Alt Ref No | 86 |
| Title | Papers of David Skene: correspondence: Letter from David Skene to John Ellis |
| Date | 15 March 1765 |
| Extent | 1 item |
| Creator Name | David Skene (1731 - 1770), M.D., of Aberdeen |
| Description | Letter from David Skene to John Ellis in which he discusses Ellis's Essay on Corallines; the essay has encouraged him to examine the sea creatures off the coast of Aberdeen; he has seen several of the corallines mentioned in Ellis's essay but cannot find others and he believes that he has found one coralline that is not mentioned in the essay; he calls this new coralline Sertulariua or Corallina Muricata, he describes it and promises to send a specimen to Ellis, he believes Linnaeus does not know of it either; He describes Scotland as an 'uncultivated field of nature as there is much still to discover and some of it may be new; he lists things he has seen on his walks including arbutus, uva ursi, lycoperdon epidendron and fucus piperatus which is not mentioned by either Hudson or Ray; he has discovered some 'sea productions' whose nature he is unsure of;; he remarks that he has had no expert to teach him so is unsure of his own opinions; he has recently received a specimen of white coral whose natural inhabitants had been dead for a long time and the coral had been invaded by a colony of foreigners including lepas tintinnabulum, retaespera eschara marina or imperatus, tubi vermiculares and several small asterias; he discusses the detail of the asterias; the coral was retrieved from the northern coasts of Scotland; he asks if Mr DaCosta will favour them with more of his fossil history, 15 March 1765. |
| Access Status | Open |
| Access Conditions | The records are available subject to the signed acceptance of the Department's access conditions. |