My son-in-law, Victor G. Audubon, is on a rapid visit to the South, and has a week or two to spare, which he is desirous of devoting to the obtaining of subscribers to the "American Quadrupeds." The Work (Miniature) will be complete in about thirty numbers, furnished monthly at $1.00 per number. The figures were made by the Audubons, and the descriptions and letter-press were prepared by myself. I have no pecuniary interest in this work, as I have cheerfully given my own labors without any other reward than the hope of having contributed something toward the advancement of the cause of Natural History in our country. I am, however, anxious that the Audubons should, by a liberal subscription, receive some remuneration for the labors and heavy expenses incurred in getting up this work. Of the character of the work it does not become me to say much. I will only add that in my department is summed up the result of investigations pursued through a long life, and, I think, the figures have never been equalled in any publication either in Europe or America. May I bespeak from you a little aid to my esteemed son-in-law, Mr. Audubon, in assisting him to procure subscribers. He is a stranger in your city; his time is limited, and his stay among you will necessarily be short. By the aid of two friends here, he obtained two hundred and fifty subscribers in a few days. On the 9th of April Bachman wrote to his son-in-law: "Will you not return to New York by the way of Charleston and sail from here, take a manuscript volume in your pocket, and four hundred good and true names on your list?" The reception accorded to the illustrations and text of this work had encouraged the brothers to do for the _Quadrupeds_ what their father, with their aid, had so successfully accomplished for the _Birds_, by presenting text and plates, as Bachman said, in "Miniature." In this they succeeded as admirably as before, John reducing all the large plates, by the aid of the camera lucida, for the octavo edition which was published in 1854. The following historical evidence of the appreciation which Audubon's works have received at the hands of the National Government I owe to Mr. Ruthven Deane, to whom the reader of these pages is already indebted for many illuminating facts. Dr. Theodore S. Palmer was recently inspecting governmental records at Washington, when he accidentally came upon the following entry: Chap. CXXIX.—An act making appropriations for certain Civil Expenses of the Government for the Year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven.