292 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



This will be included in the letter-press of the Third Volume. 



Here I will venture to consult you in regard to the publica- 

 tion of additional plates of species, not figured in the Large 

 Work. A very small Arvicola and Shrews, we may not obtain, 

 and they cannot be figured ; but nearly all are within our reach. 

 Some of the subscribers have bound up their plates, and there 

 cannot be a sufficient number to make even half of another 

 Volume. I propose, as all these figures will be contained in 

 the Small Work, that they should be inserted in the letter-press 

 of the Large Work, so that subscribers, by merely paying the 

 cost of the small plates, would have the work complete what 

 do you think of this ? 



What do you think of Victor's obtaining one hundred and 

 twenty-nine subscribers in about three days, and I think he 

 will double the number next week ; so, if the "Large Work" 

 will not pay, the "Small" one, and this is large enough, is sure 

 to do it. 



When Victor was canvassing the South for the sec- 

 ond or composite edition of this work, Bachman wrote 

 to a friend in Savannah, on March 25, 1852 : 2 



My son-in-law, Victor G. Audubon, is on a rapid visit to 

 the South, and has a week or two to spare, which he is de- 

 sirous of devoting to the obtaining of subscribers to the 

 "American Quadrupeds." The Work (Miniature) will be com- 

 plete in about thirty numbers, furnished monthly at $1.00 per 

 number. 



The figures were made by the Audubons, and the descrip- 

 tions and letter-press were prepared by myself. 



I have no pecuniary interest in this work, as I have cheer- 

 fully given my own labors without any other reward than 

 the hope of having contributed something toward the advance- 

 ment of the cause of Natural History in our country. I am, 

 however, anxious that the Audubons should, by a liberal sub- 



3 See C. L. Bachman, op. tit., p. 278. 



