December 10, 1938 
Mr. H. B. Thompson, 3130 
U.S.S. HOUSTON 
Long Beach, California 
Dear Thompson: 
At long last I as returning those nine negatives you were 
kind enough to lend me for prints. Along with them is e, get of 
prints made from them. It took some time for our photographer to get 
at them, and then he apparently laid them aside in his files. I have 
just lately been able to discover their whereabouts. It is the first 
time that I have had. a little scare about borrowed negatives and I 
can assure you it won’t happen again in a long time. 
Could you lend me the negatives of the several views you 
made of the HOUP-TOS on that pack of speed fils at Cocos Island? We 
would like to be able to select at least one view for a little ex- 
plorations account that the Smithsonian is going to publish early- 
next year. There will be just about four pages of pictures and four 
of text, but one of them should carry the ship. 
Sincerely, 
Waldo L. Schmitt, Curator, 
Division of Marine Invertebrates. 
WLS : LMc 
