( Copy )

Yale University,

New Haven, Conn., July 20, 1898.

F. A. Ward, Esq.,

Dear Sir: -

Your letter of April 8th, relating to
*Sphargis* material, &c., was duly received, but I have been too much
engaged to reply before. I also hoped before this to have made you
a visit at Rochester, but this also I must give up, as I leave for
Europe about the first of August.

I can use the unmounted skeleton of the *Sphargis* you mentioned,
especially if the feet have been kept separate, and you may send it to
me as soon as convenient, at the reduced price you named. If you can
possibly give me any hint about the locality, I should be very glad to
get it. Can you spare one fore and one hind flipper of the small
*Sphargis* (ligamentary) that you mentioned; and, if so, at what price?

I am also willing to take the seal skulls you sent to my assistant,
Mr. George F. Eaton, on approval. I take it for granted that the 20
per cent. discount you offered on *Sphargis*, applies also to these
specimens, and any others I may order to close my account.

You may also send me, from your revised catalogue of April 1st, on
approval, the skull *Hylobates mulleri*, and the skeleton of *Notoryctes
typhlops*. I will order some more specimens when I get time to look up
our catalogues.