DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 91 



thousand species of insects. Some of these were type specimens 

 from which he had himself described new species. This whole 

 collection, together with his entomological library, was turned 

 over by his parents to the academy, upon certain conditions 

 securing its proper care and integrity, June 25, 1880. 



The archaeological work of the academy has been done in two 

 localities. Among Davenport residents who have been interested 

 in the academy is Captain Wilfred P. Hall, better known as "the 

 old man of the skiff." Captain Hall through a long series of 

 years made great journeys on the Mississippi and its tributary 

 streams in a little boat. Among the Arkansas mounds he made 

 extensive diggings and collected many beautiful and valuable 

 relics. The district is a rich one, especially in objects of pottery 

 and shell. When fine specimens were found in private hands, 

 the captain would secure them by purchase or exchange. In his 

 barter, books, including dictionaries, were of special use. After 

 every trip Captain Hall brought back new and interesting mate- 

 rial, until the academy's collection was one of the finest, if not the 

 best, from that district. It was this collection that supplied the 

 better part of William H. Holmes's important paper upon the 



Fig. 8. Pottery from Arkansas Mounds. 



Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley.* Captain Hall's col- 

 lection is still one of the strongest features in the academy's 

 museum, and the old skiff in which he traveled so many thou- 



* Proceedings, vol. iv. Expanded to cover a larger field and under another title ia 

 annual report, Bureau of f^thnology. 



