VITA. 



The author of this thesis, Robert Payne Bigelow, is the son of Otis and Margaret 

 Payne Bigelow, and was born in Baldwins ville, New York, on the 10th of July, 1863. 

 Since 1868 he has resided in the City of Washington., where he attended the public schools 

 and afterward studied for two years, until 1882, in the Preparatory School of the Colum- 

 bian University. A year was spent as bookkeeper for the firm of Otis Bigelow & Co., 

 after which he entered the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University, whence he 

 was graduated in 1887 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude. 



Another year was spent in business, and then he entered the Johns Hopkins Univer- 

 sity as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, taking Animal Morphology as 

 his principal study, with Physiology and Botany as subordinate subjects. While in this 

 University he has held the positions of University Scholar, Fellow, and Adam T. Bruce 

 Fellow. 



