LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



Dr. W. J. Holland, 



Director Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

 My dear sir: 



By accident you and I came to occupy contiguous seats in an excursion from 

 Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek, after the close of the Denver meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1901. 



I am transmitting one of the indirect results of that pleasant ride. Since that 

 chance meeting we have frequently discussed South America, a continent in which 

 a growing series of converging interests meet, the continent which served as the 

 training ground of Spix, Martius, Castelnau, Midler, Darwin, Bates, Wallace, 

 Agassiz, and Hatcher, a land in which there is a great wealth of many sorts of 

 animals and plants, and in which fresh-water fishes have evolved in the greatest 

 profusion, a continent which will in the centuries to come furnish homes to count- 

 less millions of men. 



I have been interested in South American fresh-water fishes for twenty-five 

 years. A little over two years ago it became necessary in continuance of my work 

 to visit British Guiana. The Trustees of Indiana University gave me leave of 

 absence. I applied to various other institutions for assistance, but met everywhere 

 with refusals. When I visited you in August, 1908, on my way to Guiana, you 

 pledged the Carnegie Museum to help. Both the authorities of Indiana University 

 and you have done everything possible to bring my report to a successful conclusion. 

 It is a great satisfaction to me that the assistance furnished by the Carnegie Museum 

 has brought it such rich returns in valuable specimens. Since my return from 

 Guiana in December, 1908, all of the material collected has been examined, and 

 the results of the examination together with an account of the Guiana Expedition 

 are herewith transmitted for publication. This paper was prepared in the Zoolog- 

 ical Laboratory of Indiana University and forms "Contribution No. 114" of that 



laboratory. 



Cordially yours, 



C. H. ElGENMANN. 



December 1, 1910. 



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