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. 



1 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- 



2 See C. L. Bachman, op. cit., p. 278. 



