Academy of Sciences] BIOGRAPHY Q 



No. 1 ] O 



bridge early in February, 1862. They were cordially greeted by Agassiz, and plans were at once 

 made for laboratory work and for courses of lectures in the Lawrence Scientific School under 

 Agassiz, Jeffries Wyman, Joseph Lovering, Josiah P. Cook, and Asa Gray. Thus, as by the 

 workings of a special Providence, the young naturalist's eager inquiries for directions on the road 

 he was destined to follow were answered by the village taxidermist, the public schoolmaster, 

 and the academy professor, each of whom assisted him on his way to the greatest teacher of 

 his time. How fortunate it was for the future of science in America that Agassiz should 

 have attracted to him students of the caliber of Allen, Alpheus Hyatt, Edward S. Morse, A. S. 

 Packard, and A. E. Verrill, and others whose subsequent labors have exerted an incalculable 

 influence on the development of zoological research in this country! 



Allen expected to specialize in ornithology and was somewhat disappointed to be given, 

 with Niles, a collection of corals and told to find their methods of growth and laws of develop- 

 ment. Neither books nor instructions were given them, and equipped only with a hand lens* 

 they were instructed to use their powers of observation and report the result. Weeks were 

 devoted to this task, but eventually the problems were solved and the young students given 

 other work. With interruptions occasioned by ill health, when he devoted himself to fieldwork, 

 Doctor Allen continued to work at Cambridge until the spring of 1865. 



FIELD EXPLORATIONS 



In March, 1865, Allen was invited by Agassiz to accompany him on an expedition to Brazil. 

 The party contained seven official members, including Charles Frederick Hartt, and six volun- 

 teers, among whom was William James, later to become eminent as a psychologist. They 

 sailed from New York on March 26 and arrived at Rio Janeiro April 22. 



After collecting in the vicinity of that city for some weeks Doctor Allen was detailed to 

 join a smaller party which left June 9 for the northern Provinces of Brazil. A difficult journey 

 of somewhat over six months brought him to Bahia. Although so far from well during this 

 period that he was obliged to abandon the plan to reach the coast at Ceara, Doctor Allen's 

 collections included several cases of birds, mammals, mollusks, and zoological specimens, 

 besides six or eight barrels of fishes, reptiles, and other vertebrates in alcohol; and his note- 

 books contained many pages of detailed observations on the country through which he had 

 passed, its flora and fauna. 



On December 15 Doctor Allen sailed from Bahia on a 300-ton brigantine, and, after a 

 trying voyage, during which they were blown from Cape Hatteras back to St. Thomas, they 

 dropped anchor off Woods Hole, Mass., 90 days out from Bahia. 



Chronic indigestion now forced Doctor Allen to abandon museum work and return to the 

 farm; but he had experienced the joy of exploration and, as soon as his health permitted, he 

 took the field again, collecting in June, 1867, on Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario, and during the 

 summer in Illinois, Indiana, and southern Michigan. At the end of this time he was physically 

 so greatly improved that in October, 1867, he returned to the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 to act as curator of birds and mammals in that institution. 



After a year in the study, the winter of 1868-69 was devoted to zoological exploration on 

 the headwaters of the St. John's River, then a primeval part of Florida. 



The results of the Florida expedition having been reported, Doctor Allen started in April, 

 1871, on a nine months' collecting trip to the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains in the interests 

 of the Cambridge Museum. General collections were made at intervals from the Missouri 

 River to the Great Salt Lake, the selection of locality being largely dependent upon the move- 

 ments of hostile Indians. At Fort Hays, Kans., the arrival of a military escort being delayed, 

 Doctor Allen and his two assistants went buffalo hunting, accompanied by only a single hunter, 

 securing and preparing in 8 days, of which 36 hours were occupied in traveling, 14 complete 

 skeletons and 5 young calves. This collection was supplemented the following January by the 

 skins of 8 buffalo in winter pelage. 



July and part of August were passed in Colorado, where Leucosticte australis was discovered 

 on the summit of Mount Lincoln, and after 10 days at Cheyenne Doctor Allen went to Ogden, 



