UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 
ANN ARBOR 
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY 
28th November 1933 
C. D. LA RUE 
F. G. GUSTAFSON 
L. E. WEHMEYER 
C. A. ARNOLD 
K. L. JONES 
W. C. STEERE 
Dear Dr. Schmitt: 
Your letter of the 24th November just received 
! I 
ink that you willbe satisfied on the scoj/re of avoiding publicit:/. The 
Department staff has to know about it, since my work has to be distributed* 
The Minutes of the Board of Regents are open to the public including the 
Press; there is no altering that. llhen they authorize my absenting myself 
from classes, that will be entered in the minutes, but I think in such gen- 
eral terms that nothing could establish an annoying conneetion* To avoid 
using names, we have been ascribing the trip vaguely to the ’auspices of 
the San Diego Academy of Sciences’* As no one has the correspondence 
available but muself, I CcUi and will simply refuse to give the details* 
They will only have what is involved in the Regent* s minutes* 
Your question about the ’’socalled Darwin Memorial 
cruise’* is easily/ answered as far as I know anything about it. It is a 
project of a Captain von Hagen, involving about two years in the field 
along the western x^merican coasts, with inland excursions. We were invited 
to participate, but of course could not spare any permanent member of 
staf f 
We r ■:? c 0 rnm en d e d 
whom you n^irne; he is a mycologist and 
former student here^ at present with a very minor job in Washington. He 
has our blessing, equipment, and a nominal appointment from the Botanical 
garden without sal ary ,,1 as I understand it^ just to make it official* I 
do not understand that the Galapagos are an exclusive project, but ‘only one 
of several* Its focus of origin is San Francisco^ but the last I heard 
its sailing had been postponed. You might enquire among your friends there 
Cordially, 
