6 University of Michigan 



And Dr. Van Den Burgh (sic), a paid employee of the In- 

 stitution, has essayed the old, old trick of rushing into print with 

 material belonging to another. In this case he used the sug- 

 gested names, and copied so hastily from my notes that the 

 paper contains over a dozen misspelled words. Thus we 

 '■'strangely seem to have hit upon the same names for many 

 species." 



You refer to publishing leaflets privately as a "reprehens- 

 ible practice." Tlie most elementary knowledge of bibliography 

 will disclose the fact that this has been done by all grades of 

 workers, from the amateur to the most renowned. 



You can make "quite sure of the accuracy of the dates of 

 the three "Herpetological Notices" by inquiring the date of 

 their receipt at the Library of the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don.* 



I am iniblishing privately a "Review of the Recent Con- 

 tributions to the Synonomy of Amphibia and Reptiles from the 

 Far East," and when you deign to peruse a copy you will find 

 the future workers in the field of Bibliography and Zoological 

 Philology will have no trouble in locating the synonyms. You 

 are being sent an advance sheet. 



You really should not be so peeved just because Dr. Van 

 Den Burgh attached your honorable name to a deformed skink, 

 — or because you so completely missed the point in the thumb 

 of Ratia suhaspcra Barbour. 



(Signed) Yours, etc., 



J. C. Thompson, 



Surgeon, U. S. Navy. 



* My inquiry regarding dates was because I received all three "Notices" at 

 one time. One would naturally suppose from the method of publication that they 

 would each be distributed immediately they were printed. Obviously the time of 

 their arrival in London has no connection with the exact date of their appear- 

 ance in San Francisco. 



