Letter No* 2* 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
March 11 , 1937 
"Dear Dr* Schmitt: 
I am numbering my letters today to distinguish them l I wrote 
you the earlier 0 $ in the mail when yours of the 8th and 
9th arrived* I got mine back from Lanier right away, because I thought 
I might have to address it somewhere else than to Mills* There are 
two other letters of the 8th and 10th which have already gone addressed 
to Mills® I guess he will see that you get them* 
I am enclosing copies of the descriptions of the three 
genera flallidactyl us, Leuco si a , and Iliacanth a. I can 1 1 find any- 
thing particularly contrasting in the descriptions of the latter two* 
The only distinction seems to be the spines and, as you say, we can’t 
be sure that four spines is a good character for Leuco si a* I am afraid 
that these descriptions won’t help you much; I wish I knew how and 
where to get more, but I don’t* Perhaps you know the animals well 
enough to be able to make a distinction between them* Perhaps the 
descriptions of the species of Iliacantha will help* 1*11 copy and en- 
close them, too® 
I do hope you can do something with them* Mr® Shoemaker is 
about as much help as Miss Rathbun* I have just been talking to him 
about it, and he says he knows nothing about crabs* He says that when 
he sat down with a Leuco si a and Pesta’s description of the genus, it 
didn’t mean a thing to him] He doesn’t know the crab terminology, and, 
what’s more, doesn’t want to, I guess* I haven’t told him that you, toi 
will try to work out a key. He wouldn’t even try, if he knew* And in 
case I don’t get yours promptly. I’ll need something to fill up the 
space and I’ll use his* I told him that making a key was one thing 
I couldn 1 t do® 
You can say that he must put everything aside and attend to 
the proof— but , I wish you could figure out some way to see that he 
does it. I can’t® Perhaps if you were to write him a note, asking him 
in a nice way to please look it all over again for consistency and 
clearness of meaning, he might do it. There is no use in telling him 
what you say about him in your letters to me. He ssM only gets mad be- 
cause he is criticized and says, “Well, Dr. Schmitt had no business 
going away and leaving this on our hands* It’s his responsibility. His 
trouble, of course, is that he doesn’t want responsibility for anything. 
I’m not a good manager. I can’t get people to do things for 
me! 
. 
