UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
> 
January 29, 1912 
Mr. Alex vi/etraore 
Box 626 
San Jua.n, Porto Rico 
Dear Mr. V/etmore: 
I am enclosing': n couple of sketches as hints of the -oroner 
Iw X LX 
way in which to ma,ke up heron skins. These seem to me to he 
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so plain as to need no special description. 
One of the men in the Burea.u of Plant Industry is study- 
ing Diatonip, and, as he has no material v/hatever from the is- 
land of Porto Rico, I would like to ask you, when opportunity 
occurs, to collect a little and send in to me v/hen you happen 
to be making a shipment. All that is necessary to do is to 
skim a little surface mud from the bottom of some lagoon or 
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inlet on the coast. Diatoms are all microscopic and have to 
be collected on faith, but where sediment gathers in still 
water Diatoms are almost always found on the surface of such 
deposit. The best way is to take a spoon and gather a little 
of the surface mud and put it into a bottle with a good. cork. 
Diatoms are practically, indestructible; but it is better to 
preserve the mud in some way or other, for otherwise slight 
decomposition takes pjlace and the cork is almost sure to be 
blown out of the bottle with loss of contents. A little al- 
cohol and water, formal in and water, salt and v/ater, sugar 
and water, pepper and v/ater, and almost anything else that 
