SPENCER FULLER! ON BAIRD 73 



now thoroughly established in our government service, and is one of the 

 most conspicuous marks of the superiority of our scientific bureaus over 

 those of many nations. I have ventured to select two of Baird's letters 

 to previously unknown correspondents as examples of his method. The 

 first is to the sender of a hair-worm, that animal which most naturalists 

 have learned to abhor because of the frequency with which they are 

 called upon to explain its nature. Many of us, I fear, would have sent 

 a curt reply, but not so Baird : 



June 28, 1853. 

 Dear Sir: 



The specimen you send is one of Gordius or hair-worm, a very interesting 

 entozoon. The fact you mention of its crawling from the body of a cricket 

 is very interesting as tending to settle the question whether the Gordius crawls 

 into or out of the animal it infests. The association between the two has long 

 been known, but every available fact bearing on the subject is of great value. 



Yours truly, 



S. F. Baird. 



S. N. Sanford, Esq., Granville, Ohio. 



Dr. Eidgway has elsewhere published (Smithsonian Eeport for 1888, 

 p. 711) his first letter from Baird; here is the first letter to E. D. Cope: 6 



March 27, —58. 

 Dear Sir: 



I was much pleased to receive your letter this morning and to see the 

 minuteness of your knowledge of the Batrachia of Penna. I would be glad to 

 know how extensive your herpetological studies have been, whether covering 

 other branches than the Batrachia anoura, and whether you have gone at all 

 into other classes. 



In reference to your Hylodes ... I can not without a reference to our 

 specimens (at present somewhat inaccessible) decide. It appears, however, 

 much like some dark varieties of the Hyla pickeringii. In a paper enclosed 

 you will find description of some new frogs, one, Relocates feriarum hitherto 

 only observed near Carlisle. I make the Hylodes pickeringii a Hyla, as I can 

 not distinguish it generically. Of course not congeneric with acris. What 

 do you mean by Hylodes . . . ? This may be the feriarum. 



If your time is at your own disposal, it might be worth your while to visit 

 Washington, and examine our Herpetological collections, which are of extraor- 

 dinary richness. Our specimens of North American serpents number over 

 600 specimens and about 140 species. 



It will always give me pleasure to hear from you and to render any 

 assistance in my power to your studies. 



Truly yours, 



Spencer S. Baird. 



E. D. Cope, care J. B. Garrett. 



As the new material came in to the museum from all directions, it 

 had to be taken care of and worked up. It is difficult to understand 

 how Baird avoided being literally buried beneath the pile of accessions. 



8 1 omit the specific names which Cope appears to have given to the two 

 frogs referred to, as they seem not to have been published. 



