PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. S29 



From H. Zisqenbals. 



Leipsic, May 17, 1S67. 

 Enclosed I send you the prospectus of the Schlagintwait collection of ethno- 

 graphic heads of India and higher Asia, which, in view of the purpose now enter- 

 tained of forming a comprehensive museum of such representations, cannot fail 

 to be of interest to the Smithsonian Institution. 



' The price of the collection is, as has been already stated, somewhat high, and 

 is established at the following rates : 



1. Single heads, according to the choice of the purchaser, for 11 thalers. 



2. At least 25 heads taken at one time, at 9 thalers. 



3. The complete collection, 275 heads and 37 impressions of hands and feet, 

 taken at one time, 2,348 thalers. 



In case of a commission for the above purpose I would hold myself in readi- 

 ness to superintend the transmission in the best and most expeditious manner. 



From W. Alfred Lloyd. 



Hamburg, May 25, 1867. 

 The sparrows will be sent in about two months from this date, when the 

 young birds born this spring will be strong enough for travelling. They are not 

 very easy to keep in captivity, and I must try to find out by previous observa- 

 tion what will be the best manner of forwarding them. You shall, of course, 

 have due notice and proper instructions, and I will place them in the care of a 

 trustworthy person, to whom a premium can be offered, varying in amount 

 according to the number delivered alive and in good health. This is the plan I 

 adopt with regard to the transport of living aquarium animals, and thank you 

 very much for kindly trying to send me some. I mentioned sea anemones and 

 madrepores, they being easier to send alive than some other animals, but I should 

 be glad to have any American invertebrata, particularly marine, as I try to make 

 the aquarium of our society a kind of museum of the lower aquatic forms of life. 

 I think I did send you a pamphlet containing a list of those I have already 

 obtained, chiefly from England and the north of Europe, and I am now desirous 

 to get things from places further afield. I believe many of your marine ci^stacea 

 might be forwarded with no very great amount of difficulty, but the only exam- 

 ples I have yet obtained are Cenobita Diogenes, from Cuba, and Limularpoly- 

 pliemus, from New York. I have still some of the last named, but they are too 

 big for my accommodations, and I am anxious to see very young specimens — 

 say a couple of inches long. Last week I almost got some crabs from the South 

 Sea islands. They appear to be situated somewhere about grapsus or gonoplse. 

 These three forms of Crustacea reached Europe alive because of their habit of 

 living much out of water, not usually immersed in fluid, but only kept damp, so 

 that the fact or accidence of their own avoidance of being kept actually below 

 the surface of the water caused their gills to be sufficiently aerated on the voy- 

 age, as it is evident that thin films of water presented to the atmosphere are 

 more quickly oxygenated and acted upon than large masses, because of the pre- 

 sentation of greater surfaces to the action of the atmosphere, just, the same com- 

 paring together dissimilar processes that a lump of sugar placed in water as a 

 solid lump takes a much longer time to dissolve than if the same quantity were 

 powdered, because when in the form of powder the water has an infinite number 

 of surfaces to act upon all at once. For this reason I keep all difficult marine 

 animals in shallow water. A cubic foot of lluid, arranged as a cube, pre- 

 sents to the atmosphere a surface of 144 square inches, whereas, if the same cubic 

 foot be spread out so the depth is but three inches, the surface presented is 576 



