Washington, 22. i. 1957 
Dear A . and B., 
You got away just in time, for the past ten days have been breaking all 
records for cold weather in these parts.! Plenty of snow, with underlying slick 
ice, and a wind that is not suitable for man or beast (with the exception of, 
possibly, muskoxen). 
I have run into a slight contretemps in our campaign for BOU memberships. 
When I read the fine print at the bottom of the form, I find that the Nominator 
must write the covering letter; this means that two of our forms, with you as 
Nominator and with me as First Seconder, must be held until your return for the 
covering letter. I have written to Moreau and Mountfort for a definite ruling on 
this, but have not yet had a reply, but anyway the printed directions are per¬ 
fectly clear. 
I have had favorable responses so far from Pitelka, Parkes, and Charlie 
Blake. For the first two, I used the forms on which I was Nominator and wrote 
the required letters; for Blake, I used a form on which I was First Seconder and 
sent it on to Mayr so he could act as Nominator. I have in the meantime asked 
Mount fort to send over a further supjbly of blank forms. 
I don't know whether you knew that John Zimmer died, on the day you left 
here, I believe; it was in the New York TIMES. 
had 
Stella has/a short trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco to attend some 
meetings; she reports 70° temperatures all over the region. Her wild-life report 
on the two-way transcontinental train trip: "one sparrow (apparently English) on 
station platform at Cheyenne." 
Our Dutch-Indonesian import is due to reach here on Saturday. We are to be 
informed by telegram from New York as to her time of arrival, and are expected 
to recognize her in the station from her photograph].' J I usually find it diffi¬ 
cult to find a friend or relative in the rat-race that ensues when a New York 
train comes in, so I am wondering ... 
Pitelka has been here, and one of Lowery's students, and we are expecting 
a bone-ologist from Seattle who wants to work on the Hawk-idae. 
With best wishes, 
x/"? 0 — 
The Cosmos Club Annual Meeting was last Monday — no fireworks.' 
