30 
myself to the work with greater zeal and de- 
light because of your association and _ assist- 
ance. For several days I have been busily em- 
ployed arranging and carefully revising my 
notes of observations and experiments made 
during the year now closing. You will be a 
most valuable aid in the satisfactory comple- 
tion of my task. I have here quite a v.lum- 
inous record of what I have seen and learned 
of ‘snake life,” with special reference to “our 
common snakes.” I sincerely hope you are not 
among the unreasonable despisers of snakes.” 
“T am too ardent a lover of Nature to despise 
any of God’s creatures. But I have given but 
scant attention to the life habits of the serpents, 
simply because my time has been almost fully 
occupied in other departments of zoological re- 
search. JI am anxious indeed, to learn what 
that mass of scientific notes contains, to which 
you are so attentive.” 
“Of course, my Fritz, lam not surprised to 
hear you say candidly, that snakes have held 
‘no charms for you, ardent naturalist though 
you are. The beautiful things of Nature; the 
songful birds, the marvelously painted butter- 
flies and moths, the charms of fragrant flora, 
the wonders of the mineral kingdom, and the 
shells of old ocean; these imcomparable deco- 
rations of Nature tempt the naturalist to study 
their charms and mysteries. But the crawling, 
gliding, repulsive things of Nature; the worms 
and caterpillars, the snakes and lizards, the 
