SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

S. P. LANGLEY, Secretary

G. BROWN GOODE, Assistant Secretary,
in charge of U. S. National Museum

Washington,

July 6, 1894.

Memorandum to Curators,

U. S. National Museum.

Being aware that at the present time there is a lack of uniformity in the method of disposing of undesirable material transmitted to the Museum for examination and report, I would request that hereafter the words "return to owner" be endorsed on the face of the "temporary" accession card, if the material is not desired for permanent addition to the collection. If, on the other hand, the material is desired for addition to the collection, the word "desirable" should be invariably written on the face of the "temporary" accession card. This will secure the entry of the material on the permanent accession records of the Museum.

Prof. O. C. Marsh,
Honorary Curator, Department of Vertebrate Fossils,
U. S. National Museum.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

12. 27. 66.

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

Washington, December 27, 1894.

Professor O. C. Marsh,

New Haven, Connecticut.

Dear Professor Marsh:-

I have your letter of December 19, in regard to the purchase
of the Wells Collection of Miocene vertebrates.

I wish it were in our power to buy these fossils, but the appro-
priations for the last two or three years have been so much below our
needs, that it is all we can do to carry on the routine work of the
Museum, and the expenditure of money for collections seems to be prac-
tically impossible.

I am sorry that we cannot avail ourselves of this opportunity and
show our appreciation of your kind advice. I hope for better times be-
fore long.