1 64 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



isolate Eocky Mountain naturalists and their work from that of others, 

 I wish exactly the reverse. The time will come, I think, when no 

 single man will think of producing a monographic work on a group of 

 organisms. He will compile the work, adding to his own contributions 

 those of others from every region inhabited by his chosen beasts. In 

 that day the local naturalist will contribute his part; but the point 

 is, he will make his own observations, and will not merely send material 

 for the all-wise one to ponder over. 



The history of Eocky Mountain mammalogy is quite interesting. 

 During the nineteenth century 68 new mammals were described from 

 our area. Of these, six are not now considered distinct, but 62 remain. 

 In the first decade, two were described by Ord. In the twenties, Say 

 made known five, in the thirties Bachman described two, in the forties 

 nothing was added, in the fifties we have six by Baird and one by 

 Audubon and Bachman, in the sixties two by Kennicott and one by 

 Hayden, in the seventies one by Coues, in the eighties one by Shufeldt 

 and one by Merriam. Thus, to the end of the eighties, 22 had been 

 described. Now in the nineties, counting 1900, no less than forty were 

 added, mostly by Merriam and Allen ! In 1901 three more were added, 

 and in 1902 five. I first came to Colorado in 1887, and remember very 

 well having the distinct impression that the species and subspecies of 

 Eocky Mountain mammals were very well known. This, indeed, was 

 the accepted view; but how wonderful was the result of assiduous col- 

 lecting and study during the next ten or twelve years ! It is admitted 

 that not all of the newly named animals are very distinct, but some 

 are, and all appear to have their characters. 



Of all these descriptions, one was the joint work of two resident 

 naturalists, but the rest were prepared by students living in the east. 

 Perhaps one should make a second exception of the mouse described 

 by Dr. Shufeldt, who resided for a considerable period in New Mexico. 

 The number of new forms described from Colorado, New Mexico and 

 Wyoming is about the same, Colorado being a little in the lead; but 

 only seven, less than half the number of the other states, come from 

 Montana. The northern state, however, can pride itself upon contain- 

 ing the type locality of the grizzly bear; this and the common wood 

 rat (Neotoma cinerea), also from Montana, being the two first-de- 

 scribed animals from our region. 



It is not necessary to similarly outline the history of other groups, 

 but it may be said that the flowering plants are in the midst of a 

 revival period quite equaling that of the mammals, while the descrip- 

 tion of new insects goes on at a very rapid rate. Of over 500 wild 

 bees collected in the last ten years or so in New Mexico, more than 

 300 have been described as new. 



In order that it may be understood that something is really doing 

 in the Eocky Mountains, I propose to briefly describe the existing 



