276 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
I am getting very sleepy,—don’t you perceive it—and must stop 
and say goodbye. When are you coming home? We miss you day 
and night. I shan’t be sorry when some new President turns you out 
of office. 
From Spencer F. Baird to John H. Clark, Frontera, Texas. 
WasuinctTon, May 14; 1852. 
My pear Apam:—® 
Your letter of April 8th came two days ago, but as I knew that the 
last invoice of reptiles and fishes, collected under Col. Graham’s 
administration was somewhere between this and New York, I con- 
cluded to wait a while. This afternoon the Col. came over with the 
case, which Mr. Girard and I quickly opened in his presence, and as you 
may well suppose, with as little delay as possible. The liquor had 
leaked out of the kettle, but thanks to the admirable manner in which 
the specimens were put up, everything was in perfect order, as perfect 
as the other two lots, which is saying a great deal. I am afraid Girard 
will go into a fever with the excitement of seeing the many new things 
and I am not much behind him in this. A very few species were sent 
by you before, or at least we had them from some source, the great 
majority, however, are entirely new. One of these days, when the 
results of the expedition are published, people will be astonished to 
find how much one man can do under difficulties. It all depends on 
training, don’t it? No American Naturalist has ever added so many 
species of reptiles and fishes to our fauna in a period even of years, as 
you have. But I can’t find the lizard with bat-like wings. Is it the 
one with the groove along the sides, from the “‘Coppermines.” This 
is a new species of the genus Elgaria, and belongs to the Pacific Fauna. 
What a pile of new snakes you have collected. I should not be sur- 
prised if the entire number of species caught by you should amount to 
40, and most of them new. The fish are of high interest, entirely dif- 
ferent from the earlier lot. Among them I see Major EKmory’s Gila 
Trout, or rather a second species of the same genus. It is not really a 
trout, but probably has habits of one. 
6 This was Clark’s college nickname, referring to his facility 
with mathematics and to Adam Clark the eminent mathematician. 
