360 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
vented my studying any. Though I have my doubts as to my ability 
to do this work well, I shall have good advice and assistance and I 
trust it will when published be satisfactory to you all. For this will 
be not only a matter of interest to you officers of the North as describ- 
ing your fauna, but you yourselves will be identified with it from its 
being based mainly on your collections and embodying all notes, etc., 
that you may furnish. 
I want to wait before finally preparing it fully for press till we 
get your collections and notes of 1864, which ought to reach us in 
time. For the fish we must wait till then ere commencing, probably. 
Perhaps the invertebrate animals will only be catalogued now 
and more fully monographed hereafter in the various general works 
of the Smithsonian. 
I think with this proposed work on Arctic zoology to aid your 
studies, you boreal naturalists would in a very few years clear up the 
whole field completely. 
Permit me to urge you to take notes on all animals and in great 
detail—observe and note the habits of the common animals. I wish 
you would give complete histories of the habits of the reindeer, musk 
ox, white fox, and all the Arctic birds. These would be published 
“toute ronde” (in your own name of course) in the Report on Arctic 
Zoology. The minutest details are wanted. 
Prof. Baird has of course told you how valuable your notes on 
the Barren ground voyage are. Of course this must be published at 
once. Pray do you and Lockhart send along a lot more such. 
How many young does each arvicola, ermine and lemming have? 
Where do they live? On what feed? etc., etc. 
In some of the Patent Office reports you’ll find some notes on 
the habits of mammals. These were written a long time ago and are 
not very good, but you will see by the accounts of some of the mice 
and squirrels what minute details are thought worth publishing. At 
the same time in the meagre and often incorrect notes on the carcajou, 
marten, etc., you will see how little has been published on these 
animals, 
While I now know much more of many of the Arctic animals, 
I am still incompetent to write anything like full histories of their 
habits and would much rather publish those furnished by Lockhart or 
yourself or any of the others that would take the trouble to write them. 
