258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



with Say, the founder of descriptive entomology in the United 

 States. 



Dr. Melsheimer thus inheriting the tastes and tlie collection of 

 his father, has preserved, for later investigators, the only authen- 

 tic t3-pes of many of Mr. Say's species ; and has also contributed 

 no small proportion of the descriptions of Coleoptera, which ap- 

 peared up to Februar}^, 1847. His memoirs on this subject, con- 

 taining notes and descriptions of about four hundred and fift}^- 

 seven species, were printed in the 2d and 3d vols, of the proceed- 

 ings of this Academy. 



Entomology also owes to him the catalogue of the described 

 Coleoptera of the United States, which, after revision by Prof S. 

 S. Haldeman and myself, was published by the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution in 1853. It was the first work of bibliographical import- 

 ance in the modern history of that branch of science, and gave a 

 powerful impetus to its development in the United States, and 

 has greatly diminished the labor of those who have continued the 

 study of that department. 



Living an isolated life on his farm, remote from usual lines of 

 travel, dependent almost entirely on letters for the s3-mpathy and 

 counsel of his fellow students, separated from libraries containing 

 the results of modern research, and therefore dependent on the 

 traditional knowledge received from Europe, Avhich constituted 

 in fact most of the intellectual capital of the founders of natural 

 history in the United States, Dr. Melsheimer must be considered 

 as a very remarkable instance of one who, with very limited 

 opportunities, has worked honestly, to the extent of his abilities, 

 to develop the powers of usefulness which were given him. 



Modest, unpretending, affectionate to his family, devoted to his 

 friends, industrious to the limit of human usefulness, his death, 

 at such an advanced age, can only leave, with those who liave 

 enjoj'ed his acquaintance, a satisfaction that they have known so 

 good a representative of the purer qualities of humanit}'. 



The following letter, on the introduction of the California 

 Salmon, was read by Prof. Cope: 



Harrisburg, Pa., March 11, 1873. 



My Dear Sir: Supposing j'ou might feel some interest in the 

 matter, I propose to give you a short account of the introduction 

 of the California Salmon, which I hope it will bo my good fortune 

 to be able years hence to say I effected on the third of this present 

 month. 



Professor Baird, U. S. Com. of Fisheries, employed last summer 

 Mr. Livingston Stone, of Rhode Island, to procure the spawn of 

 some California Salmon. They have been called Sacramento 

 Salmon ; and I believe the spawn were obtained from that stream 

 or one of its branches. 



Dr. Slack obtained just sixty-nine hundred young; they thrived 



