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February 23, 1924. 

Mr. W. deC. Ravenel, 
Administrative Assistant, 
U. S. National Museum. 

Dear Mr. Havenel:-

   In reply to your inquiry about the present status of the application for the Walter Rathbon Bacon Scholarship, I beg to say that only one application has been received to date, viz., from Dr. W. L. Schmitt. Before placing it before the full committee, I asked a subcomittee, consisting of Mr. Miller, Dr. Richmond and Dr. Bartsch, to examine the application and make a recommendation. The application with their report and recommendation is herewith returned. 
   It will be noted that Dr. Schmitt does not want to undertake the work proposed until July 1, 1925 or July 1, 1926. The subcommittee therefore finds it impractiable to recommend action on his application at the present time, and suggests that it be returned to him with the request that he resubmit it when he is in a position to take up the work without undue delay. In this I agree completely with the subcommittee. 
   The subcommittee recommends further that the scholarship be again advertised and given wider publicity I have delayed taking action upon this in the hope of being able to induce suitable persons to apply. I have also considered the advisability for the Department of formulating a plan for the working out of a specific faunal problem and offer the execution of it to some suitable student, but hitherto without result. It is probably true that the announcement made in "Science" did not attract sufficient attention, and that a more effective way to bring the scholarship to the notice of the public is desirable. Such advertising would probably have to be paid for, and if a part of the accrued income from the fund can be used for the purpose, I would recommend that the announcement by published as an advertisement in "Science" every other week for two months; and that the time for submitting plans be extended to June 1, 1924. 

 Respectfully, 
 Head Curator, 
 Dept. of Biology