230 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



fossil shells indicates that the basin of the Colorado was at one time 

 an extensive fresh-water lake. 



Regular Meeting, June 17th, 1872. 

 President in the Chair. 



Twenty-two members present. 



Dr. -J . B. Pigne-Diipuytren was elected a resident member. 



Donations to the Library : Am. Jour, of Conchology, Vol. VII, 

 Part iv. Documents and Charts of U. 8. Signal Office. Eng. and 

 Mining Jour. Am. Naturalist, May and June. Monatsbericht 

 der Koniglic. Preuss. Akad. der Wissenschaften za Berlin. Rec- 

 tification of Conrad's Synopsis of the Naiads of North America, 

 by Dr. Isaac Lea. 



Dr. Hewston exhibited specimens of the leaf and fibre of the 

 Agave americana, from Arizona. 



Mr. Stearns announced the death of the following scientific men : 



Edmund Ravenel, of Charleston, S. C; Robert Swift, of Phila- 

 delphia, who died at St. Thomas, W. I.; Dr. Hubbard, of Long 

 Island, N. Y., and Dr. William Stimpson, of Chicago, Avho died at 

 Ilchester, Md. In referring to the death of the latter, Mr. Stearns 

 made the folio win 12; 



Bemarks on the Death of Dr. William Stimpson. 



BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. 



Mr. President : — It devolves upou me to impart to the Academy the sad 

 news of the death of my esteemed friend, Dr. William Stimpson, late Director 

 of the Ciiicago Academy of Sciences, and successor to the late Robert Kenni- 

 cott as scientific head of that institution. Dr. Stimpson was also a correspond- 

 ing member of this society, as well as many of the principal scientific associations 

 in this country and Europe ; and both at home and abroad he was recognized 

 as a most thorough investigator in his department of study, and everywhere his 

 scientific services are appreciated and his loss will be deplored. 



From boyhood, it may be said, even to the hour of his death, he was a diligent 

 and enthusiastic worker in the enchanting domain of Natural History ; first 

 studying with Agassiz soon after the latter settled at Cambridge ; at one time 

 shipping as one of the crew on a fishing smack, that he might the better pursue 



