SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
March 27, 1937* 
Dr. Waldo L. Schmitt, 
c/o Yacht " Joseph Conrad” 
St. Thomas, V. I. 
Dear Dr. Schmitt: 
Your letters written prior to ^our leaving Florida 
and two radiograms have come duly to hand. 
Manington is certainly wrong in his statement that 
porpoises inhabit saline lakes in Haiti. There are two lakes 
of this type in the Cul-de-Sac Plain back of Port-au-Prince, 
one called the Etang Saumatre and the other Lake Enriquillo. 
So far as I know the only life in them is the usual saline 
fauna. Certainly if there had been anything else Beebe would 
have written it up long ago in connection with his work on 
Haiti. I have been at the lake first mentioned and have had 
report from various people concerning the second one* 
I am enclosing herewith a copy of the release on the 
Smithsonian -Hart ford expedition that may be of interest to 
Mr. Hartford. 
Matters here are progressing as usual. Father McNally 
of Georgetown University who will accompany the Eclipse Expedition 
sponsored by the National Geographic Society to the Phoenix 
Islandshas kindly said that he will be glad to pick up what he 
can in the w r ay of alcoholic material for us. I am having a field 
chest prepared for his use to be sent along with the scientific 
gear for the expedition. We have sent copies of your radios 
to Mrs. Lunz and have also told Mrs. Schmitt of them by telephone. 
Please give my regards to Mr. Hartford 
Sincerely yours. 
Assistant Secretary 
ip 
