MEXICAN TAILLESS AMPHIBIANS 6 



object of the trip being to obtain a series of wild turkeys. About the 

 middle of January, 1900, he went to Washington for the first tune and 

 remained there for about six weeks before returning to Mexico. He 

 resumed field work at Frontera, Tabasco, on March 3, 1900, and 

 after a trip into the interior he returned there to meet Nelson on April 

 20, 1900. This season's field work ended at Carrizal, Vera Cruz, 

 about May 15, 1901, and then both Nelson and Goldman returned 

 to Washington. Early in the winter of that year Goldman received 

 instructions to return to Mexico, and accordingly he resumed field 

 work on December 19, 1901, at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. This 

 rail journey was somewhat unusual in that it marked a departure 

 from the previous practice of the Biological Survey in regard to the 

 payment of traveling expenses, for Goldman's expenses were paid 

 to the Mexican boundary from Washington. Nelson met Goldman 

 about February 6, 1902, at Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and after about 

 four months in the field both of them left Eagle Pass, Tex., on June 

 8, 1902, for Washington. 



After spending a brief period at headquarters, Goldman was sent 

 on a field trip to California, where he began collecting on July 17, 

 1902, at Paraiso Springs in Monterey County. The last entry in the 

 field catalogue was on September 10, 1902. During part of this trip 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam was with liim. Returning to Washington, 

 Goldman remained a few weeks before being ordered again to Zaca- 

 tecas in Zacatecas, where he resumed field work on December 19, 1902. 

 Nelson joined Goldman on December 23, 1902, at Ocotlan in Jalisco. 

 On June 28, 1903, they terminated their collecting at La Barca, 

 Jalisco, and returned to Washington. This was Nelson's last trip 

 on the mainland of Mexico. 



The following year Goldman visited Mexico City on his way to 

 Jaltipan in Vera Cruz, where field work was begun on February 3, 

 1904. This season's field work ended in Jidy, 1904, at Lerma in the 

 State of Mexico, and Goldman returned to Washington. In the 

 course of these 12 years, since the beginning of their partnership, 

 Nelson and Goldman had visited every State and Territory in the 

 mainland of Mexico, and in some instances had crossed and recrossed 

 them several times. 



OTHER SOURCES OF NATIONAL MUSEUM MATERIAL 



The United States National Museum has received Mexican speci- 

 mens of tailless amphibians from a number of other sources. Most 

 of the early acquisitions came from individuals wdth whom Prof. 

 Spencer F. Baird had corresponded. Numerous letters on file in the 

 archives of the Smithsonian Institution reveal Baird's active interest 

 in building up a representative collection of Mexican animals. He 

 was instrumental also in effecting the appointment of qualified 



