204 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
salamanders which I keep in tubs in my room. A friend gave her a 
sugar fish some time ago, which she immediately insisted should be 
put in a bottle. Her chief admiration is of ducks, one of which 
mounted on wheels (wooden) and the size of life is her plaything 
from morning till night. She spends her time chiefly in dragging 
about this duck and “writing”? ducks and the like with her pencil. 
Now beat the above, if you can. I wish you had some call to 
the South, (via Carlisle) and would bring Mrs. D. with you that we 
might compare notes. May not some such opportunity occur before 
a great while. Very truly yours, 
SPENCER F. Barrp. 
From Jas. D. Dana to S. F. Baird. 
Dear Bairp,— New Haven, Jany. 8, 1850. 
I was delighted to hear of your happy home; for I can 
now think of you as something more than a naturalist, having other 
sources of pleasure besides snakes and lizards. The picture you draw 
shows that you appreciate the blessings of a good wife and have a 
treasure of a wife to appreciate. I shall not attempt to retaliate, but 
ask you and yours to come and see us in our own house and home— 
for we have recently built us a home in a pleasant part of the city. 
Will only say with regard to my better half that she claims to be 
the only lady who has read through critically every page of my 
volume on Zoophytes, 740 pages, quarto—!— and as for little Fanny, 
now 314 years old, she was just now prattling about “‘tistals” and 
often has much to say of the “tustacean.” ** Master Eddie, hardly 
two monthsold, is beginning to make frequent observations on Nature. 
Allow me to present my kind regards to your lady and believe me 
Very truly yours, 
Jas. D. Dana.* 
24 Crystals and Crustaceans. Professor Dana was of course an 
authority on both minerals and marine invertebrates. 
*° The result of the above correspondence was that the two ladies 
were very much afraid of each other, and it was not until they met, 
when they very speedily became good friends, that each discovered 
that the other was not so profoundly learned that she need fear to 
converse with her! (Note by Miss Lucy H. Baird.) 
