1883.] 413 [Wadsworth. 



summer." The following reply was received from Mr. Hague 

 dated May 31 : "In reply to your letter asking for permission to 

 examine the geological collection of the 40th Parallel Explora- 

 tion, I regret to say that such permission cannot be granted at 

 this time. We have been studying and working upon the collec- 

 tion for the past year and a half and had expected to have printed 

 the results this coming summer, but as our work is still unfinished, 

 publication must be deferred for the present. As our work covers 

 a good deal of new as well as old ground, I cannot, in justice to 

 myself, grant to any one the privilege of studying the collection 

 during my absence in the west this summer. After the work is 

 published the collection will, I hope, be open to examination by 

 all who take the slightest interest in the study of crystalline rocks." 

 While the summer was preferred, the examination of the speci- 

 mens in question could have been made at any time in Mr. Hague's 

 presence and under any restrictions he chose to impose consistent 

 with my ascertaining the facts — but the denial appears to be 

 absolute, for the present at least. It will at once be seen that this 

 refusal to allow me to look over the specimens in question places 

 me at a serious disadvantage in this discussion, especially since Dr. 

 Merrill has been allowed not only the liberty of twice examining 

 the collection, but also of having slides and chemical analyses made. 

 I have not seen the collection since 1878, and since I was then 1 

 informed by Messrs. King and Bickmore that I should have 

 access to it at any time, I did not deem it necessary to write out 

 in detail my reasons for the opinions formed with the specimens 

 in hand, although certain notes were taken. 



Since I am denied all access to the collection which has been 

 entirely overhauled and rearranged since my examination, I 

 must deny the right of any one to assume that the slides and rocks 

 now bearing the numbers given by me are the same ones that were 

 designated by these numbers at the time of my examination in 

 1878. The condition of the collection at that time has been stated 

 with sufficient fullness (W. 272 2 ) and need not be discussed here. 



1 They, of course, have no control over it now. 



2 For convenience the following abbreviations will be employed in this paper: 

 B. — Bulletin Museum Comp. Zool., 1879, v, 275-287. 



P. — Proceedings Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1881, xxi, 234-243. 

 W. — Proceedings Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1881, xxi, 243-274. 

 M. — Proceedings Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1882, xxi, 452-470. 



