SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 67 



other subjects. The diary of January 17, 1844, has this item: ' Com- 

 menced making extracts from Torrey and Gray's Flora.' He needed 

 the use of a microscope, and this was loaned to him by Dr. Haldeman, 

 the well-known naturalist, who befriended him in many ways. In 1844 

 we find him visiting Dr. Melsheimer, the coleopterist. The year 1843 

 was one of great activity in field research and collecting. The diary 

 says : ' Walked about 1,400 miles this year. Used about 70 lbs. shot, 

 8 lbs. powder, and 1,800 caps.' 



Not only did Baird add much to what was known of the distribution 

 and characters of the birds and quadrupeds of Pennsylvania, but five 

 entirely new ones were discovered in the vicinity of Carlisle, namely, 

 two birds, a lizard, a frog and a salamander. The birds were the 

 yellow-bellied and least flycatchers; they formed the subject of Baird's 

 first published paper, which appeared in the Proceedings of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, in 1843. This paper, which 

 was the joint product of the brothers, William and Spencer, was en- 

 titled ' Descriptions of Two Species, supposed to be New, of the Genus 

 Tyrannula, Swainson, found in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.' 

 The birds were named Tyrannula flaviventris and Tyrannula minima, 

 and are to-day well-known species; they are now placed in the genus 

 Empidonax, to which Baird subsequently removed them. 



The salamander, Pseudotriton montanus, was published in 1849; 

 it is now known as Spelerpes ruber montanus (Baird). The lizard, 

 published in the same year, is Eumeces anthracinus (Baird), while the 

 frog, not published until 1854, is known as Chorophilus feriarum 

 (Baird). It will be admitted that these were interesting finds in a 

 region so well known as Pennsylvania toward the middle of the last 

 century; evidence that Baird was using his own eyes, and not depend- 

 ing too much upon the work of others. Another discovery, of some- 

 what later date, was an apparently extinct rat of large size, the remains 

 of which occurred in the bone caves of Pennsylvania. This animal 

 was described in 1857 as Neotoma magister; but many years afterwards 

 a rat was found still living in Pennsylvania, the bones of which do not 

 seem essentially different from those of Baird's animal, and it is 

 thought by some that the two are identical. This was the only fossil 

 animal ever described by Baird. 



In 1844 the Baird brothers published a second paper, a ' List of 

 Birds Found in the Vicinity of Carlisle, Cumberland County, Penna., 

 about Lat. 40° 12', N. Lon. 77° 11' W.,' which appeared in the Amer- 

 ican Journal of Science and Arts. It is characteristic of Baird's love 

 of precision that he should cite the latitude and longitude in the title. 

 The list enumerated 201 species observed by the brothers, with par- 

 ticulars about their time of appearance, abundance, etc. In 1845 a 

 revised edition appeared, enumerating 202 species from the county, 



