CHAPTER NINE 



Returning in September from a trip to Europe, I 

 took up my new work in the University with much 

 enthusiasm. Naturally I found there more and 

 better equipment and a more generous atmosphere 

 than at Butler, although the larger institution was 

 quite as heavily burdened by educational tradition. 

 In addition to several excellent students who had 

 followed me from Irvington, a number of others 

 showed marked promise. I had hardly made a 

 beginning, however, when a most unforeseen call to 

 government service gave me a rare opportunity for ' 

 field work in Zoology, 



The United States Census Bureau, under the ef- Govem- 

 ficient administration of General Francis A. Walker, ""^"f 



SCTVICC 



had planned for 1880 a report which in fullness and on Pacific 

 accuracy should far surpass any work of the kind ^^^-^^ 

 before attempted. Through cooperation with Baird 

 and Goode, the investigation of marine industries 

 was turned over to the Fish Commission, and I 

 was asked to take charge of the work on the Pacific 

 Coast, while Dr. Bean went to Alaska on a simi- 

 lar mission, and Silas Stearns, a delightful young 

 student of nature, canvassed the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Making an adjustment whereby my collegiate work 

 was placed temporarily in Dudley's hands, I was 

 enabled to accept the alluring assignment, upon 

 which I entered in December, 1879. Gilbert, then 

 one of my graduate students, accompanied me as 



C 201 :i 



