550210-30

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS

February 10, 1955

Mr, James W. Bee
c/o American Embassy
Guatemala City, Guatemala

Dear Jim;

Thanks for your letter of February 2. I am glad that you can see your
way clear to stay on for two extra months. We will expect you back here
about April 15. In the meantime good luck with your collecting!

In answer to your question about saving both the skin and skeleton of
an armadillo, I will have to answer that I meant "as much of the skeleton
as possible", Actually I have removed the tail vertebrae from an armadillo
but that was when I was preparing one here in the Museum shop where I had
a hacksaw and certain other equipment whereby I could split the tail all
the way to the tip, both on the top side and on the under side, and so
pry off the armor and remove the bone. Of course I had to wire the two
halves of the armor of the tail back together. I am conyinced that it would
not be desirable to attempt to do this in the field; a person's time could
better be spent in preparing other specimens. In the field it would be
best to save only as much of the skeleton of an armadillo as could be saved
conveniently apart from the "skin". Later, here in the Museum, the remain-
ing parts of the skeleton could be removed from the skin as it was necessary
to have these additional parts. When I suggested saving the skeleton of an
armadillo, I did not have in mind nesesserity the 8-banded armadillo but,
instead, the other species that is much rarer, much smaller, and much wider
between the ears.

You ask about the manuscript on the Arctic mammals. Fitch has been
working at it diligently for some weeks and I hope to have his revised
version in hand before long.

It seems to me that you would be well advised to have a native with
you in your work. If we had some foreigner up here in eastern Kansas run-
ning around the country, doing strang things, who could not speak the lan-
guage well, there would be chances of his running into difficulty and these
chances could almost all be done away with if he had in his employ some
native young man.

With all good wishes for continued success, I am

Sincerely,

 

ERH/mr