296 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



we call him?" "Call him Eohomo" said Huxley, and Marsh 

 wrote under the sketch the legend as it appears. 



The layman must understand that all this was pure fun; that 

 the name Eohomo does not exist; that in the geological horizon 

 from which Eohippus comes no tailless apes have yet been found. 

 The whole thing was fun, and is not to be taken seriously. 



On the i6th of August Huxley left to join the ''Alexander 

 Agassiz" at Newport whence he wrote the following letter: 



"NEWPORT, Aug. 19, 1876. 

 "To Mr. Clarence King, 



"Mv DEAR SIR: In accordance with your wish, I very willingly 

 put into writing the substance of the opinion as to the importance 

 of Professor Marsh's collection of fossils which I expressed to you 

 yesterday. As you are aware, I devoted four or five days to the 

 examination of this collection, and was enabled by Prof. Marsh's 

 kindness to obtain a fair conception of the whole. 



"I am disposed to think that whether we regard the abundance 

 of material, the number of complete skeletons of the various 

 species, or the extent of geological time covered by the collection, 

 which I had the good fortune to see at New Haven, there is no 

 collection of fossil vertebrates in existence which can be compared 

 with it. I say this without forgetting Montmartre, Siwalik, or 

 Pikermi and I think that I am quite safe in adding that no col- 

 lection which has been hitherto formed approaches that made by 

 Professor Marsh, in the completeness of the chain of evidence by 

 which certain existing mammals are connected with their older 

 tertiary ancestry. 



"It is of the highest importance to the progress of Biological 

 Science that the publication of this evidence, accompanied by 

 illustrations of such fulness as to enable paleontologists to form 

 their own judgment as to its value, should take place without 

 delay. 



"I am yours very faithfully, 



"THOMAS H. HUXLEY." 



During the years succeeding 1874, the rapid development of 

 the West and the accessibility of many fossil fields to the railroads 

 made it possible for small, less expensive parties to carry on the 

 work of exploring for extinct vertebrates. After 1876, therefore, 

 trained local collectors and others were annually sent into the field 



