298 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
ing in caverns while in search of fossil bones, embrace of Krakens 
when catching starfish on the seas; or some other undescribed species 
of calamity, the genus, even, of which is not yet known. The string of 
scientific expeditions which I have succeeded in starting is perfectly 
preposterous. Have you any idea of the activity of our navy and 
army at the present date? Expeditions by field and flood? Well, in 
nearly all I have a finger, and in several two hands. Let me recount: 
Capt. Ringgold sails in a week or two for the North Pacific and 
Bering’s Straits: In command of four vessels he expects to make great 
collections of all sorts of things. Thanks to our liberal Secretary of 
the Navy, Mr. J. P. Kennedy, I had full authority to prepare at the 
expense of the appropriation whatever apparatus was necessary to 
capture all sorts of Sea Devils and Water Kelpies. Getting two 
enterprising and able naturalists appointed to the expedition, one a 
zoologist (Mr. Stimpson), the other as botanist (Charles Wright), we 
together ransacked our brains, and made out our tremendous lists of 
nets, kettles, dredges, etc. amounting to near $2,000, all of which were 
authorized and paid for without flinching. They go much better pre- 
pared than the old expedition (Wilkes) although with few hands, yet 
will undoubtedly make good returns for the trouble invested. 
Capt. Page sailed a month ago for the Parana River and its South 
American surroundings. Him I fixed nicely; with a small steamer, he 
could bear but a small natural history outfit, but he got all necessary. 
Dr. Kane’s second Grinnell expedition starts for Greenland the 
middle of April. He will have about 250 dollars worth of traps, which 
I am now getting in train. The Dr. was applied to by a committee 
from the Phila. Academy of Natural Sciences in regard to making col- 
lections; they suggested various articles of apparatus, the aggregate 
somewhat bulkier than his little vessel; many of them a little more 
complex than Babbage’s calculating machine. In despair he came to 
me, and I soon made out a list of available articles which the Secre- 
tary approved. 
4 William Stimpson, M.D., born in Roxbury, Mass., Feb. 14, 
1832. He was attached to the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, 
1852, long a collaborator at the Smithsonian Institution, made Direc- 
tor of the Chicago Academy of Sciences in 1865. He died May 26, 
1872, leaving an enviable reputation for his work as a student of 
invertebrate zoology. 
