136 Naturalist at Large 



Both these men, wealthy, fashionable, and learned, 

 stooped to any depths to steal a march on one another. 

 Their rivalry was so bitter, their hatred of each other so 

 intense, that to us the feud seems almost incredible. 



Cope had an uncanny visual memory. I remember Leon- 

 hard Stejneger, late Head Curator of Biology in the U. S. 

 National Museum, telling me that Cope stood looking over 

 his shoulder at a curious Uttle lizard which the old collector, 

 John Xanthus, had sent in from Lower California. Stejneger 

 was studying this Hzard when Cope entered the room, in- 

 deed he was preparing to write out his description, for 

 nothing like it had ever been known before. Cope glanced 

 at the specimen for a few moments, put on his coat, walked 

 to the telegraph office, and wired a perfectly accurate de- 

 scription of the beast to the American Naturalist, thus glee- 

 fully stealing the credit of the discovery for himself. 



In addition to their own efforts, both Marsh and Cope 

 employed other collectors who traveled far and wide, gath- 

 ering fossils and ruthlessly destroying" material which they 

 did not have time to take up before the approach of winter 

 so that no rival would chance to find it subsequently. 



Samuel Carman was a protege of Alexander Agassiz, who 

 was also sent out into the field. On one trip he reached Fort 

 Laramie just as Professor Marsh brought in a collection 

 which was to be shipped east. As I remember it, neither 

 Marsh nor Garman knew that Cope was in town. Since 

 lodgings were scarce, Garman bunked in the empty station. 

 Late one night, after he had turned in, he heard someone 

 stealthily enter the room. The intruder made a careful 

 examination of the slatted crates containing Marsh's ma- 

 terial. This went on for some time, then at last the figure 



