HAMILTON: MAMMALOGY IN NORTH AMERICA 665 



ence with young Vernon Bailey, a Minnesota farm boy. This lad, later to become 

 Merriam's brother-in-law, was an indefatigable collector. Through Bailey's well 

 prepared specimens and large series of the less common species (at least in col- 

 lections), Merriam may have been first encouraged to consider the possibility of 

 a country-wide survey of mammals. 



As with so many naturalists, Merriam's first love was ornithology. The found- 

 ing of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1883 Ijrought him in contact with the 

 masters of the day, including Baird, Bendire, J. A. Allen, Ridgway, and others. 

 He was elected secretary of the society. In 1885, through the efforts of the A.O.U., 

 Congress authorized the establishment of a section of ornithology to be a branch 

 of the Division of Entomology, then under the Commissioner of Agriculture. 

 Merriam was appointed as ornithologist in this newly created section. He gave 

 up the practice of medicine and assumed the duties that were to play so important 

 a part in North American mammalogy. His fellow student in medical school. Dr. 

 A. K. Fisher, was invited as assistant ornithologist. Most of us remember Fisher 

 best for his Hawks and Owls of the United States, published in 1893. Within three 

 years, the section became the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. 

 In 1905, the Bureau of Biological Survey was founded, an outgrowth of the smal- 

 ler unit. We now know this bureau as the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the 

 Department of the Interior. 



Merriam assembled a group of able men for the Bureau, and sent collectors 

 into the unexplored West. He inaugurated the technical North American Fauna 

 series, revisions and description of mammals occupying many of these important 

 publications. By the early 'nineties, Merriam had planned his life work; studies 

 that would determine some of the factors which limit the distribution of plants, 

 birds, and mammals. His descriptions of new mammals, including several dis- 

 tinctive genera, may be partially credited to the industry of Bailey, who was 

 sending to Washington scores of undescribed forms. 



The San Francisco Mountains of Arizona offered a splendid opportunity to 

 study altitudinal distribution. The report of this trip gave a clue to his later 

 reports on distribution (Merriam and Stejneger, 1890). However modified in 

 later years, the Arizona study was fundamental. Many may disagree with his 

 temperature laws, but in parts of North America these have stood the test of 

 time. To be sure, there are valid objections to these ''temperature summations," 

 but they appear to hold in a great part of western North America. 



The standards of Merriam were of the highest caliber. However harsh he 

 might appear to some, he gave freely of advice and aided many an aspiring 

 youngster. Recently I have seen his entire correspondence to one of his field 

 assistants, a collector of no mean ability. When this assistant offered to resign, 

 feeling that he had been accused of misusing government property, Merriam wrote 

 in longhand, on plain paper, the following letter, dated June 14, 1894. 



Don't lose your head, even if the provocation seems great — from your standpoint. It 

 is evident that I was mistaken as to what you actually did. I thought you had sawed up 

 or made a packing box of the two trays from the new chest we sent you last — not dreaming 

 that you had kept two trays of the old chest with you so long. 



Please bear in mind that I am held personally responsible to the Department for all 

 property belonging to the Division, and am now charged with several hundred dollars 

 worth of property that has gone in the field and not likely to be returned. 



The most important single thing for a young man to learn is self control — without 



