1876.] 



SENATE— No. 10. 



37 



learn from 3^our letter, on the 10th instant, that the}' have your 

 entire concurrence, and that many of them have, in fact, been 

 alread}' provided for in the Museum. 



Very truly yours, 



JOHN L. LECONTE. 



A. Agassiz, Esq. 



Boston, May 10, 1875. 

 Dear Sir : — I have no objection to your saying to your Trustees 

 that I design my collection to your Museum, and that while I live I 

 shall hold it only as its trustee, and moreover intend to do my 

 utmost to increase its value. This intention on m}' part is known 

 to and is approved b}' my famil}', and also has the cordial approval 

 of Prof. Baird, who freely allows me to take from their collections 

 to increase both the varieties and add to the new species. This 

 intention I made known to j'our father about two years ago, and 

 since then I have given a good deal of time to perfect the marking 

 and cataloguing of the collection. This is now completed so that 

 any one understanding the subject could arrange all my known 

 species. 



In numbers m}- collection is about as large as the famous Des 

 Murs collection, but much richer in North American eggs, and 

 second in that respect to the Smithsonian alone, while the latter 

 has very few foreign. 



It is my intention, if I live long enough, to have a series of 

 cabinets made and so arranged that the eggs may be examined 

 without injury from handling, light, or dust. If I am not able to do 

 this, I will have to trust to your Museum to supplement my imper- 

 fections. 



I take to Europe with me about 1,200 duplicates for exchanges, 

 and hope to bring back with me both more complete series of what 

 1 have and many entirely new species. About two-fifths of my 

 collection is North American, about two-sevenths European, about 

 one-fourteenth, each, West Indian, South American, and African ; 

 the balance, Asiatic and Australian. 



You may say, too, to your Trustees, that in the interim, all the 

 nests of interest that 'may come into my possession, or that I can 

 procure, go to supplement, as it were in advance, the collection of 

 eggs to come, either with their eggs, or where I wish to retaim 

 them, the latter are marked to their connection. 



For some 3-ears to come I shall need to use my collection in my 



