118 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



was dispersed, many specimens being acquired by the late well- 

 known conchologist, C. M. Wheatley, of Phrenixville, Penn 

 sylvania. 



ISAAC LEA. 



Dr. Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, whose long and active life 

 gave him among the younger generation the title of the Nestor 

 of American Naturalists, was born in Wilmington, Delaware, 

 March 4, 1792, and died at his home in Philadelphia in his ninety- 

 fifth year, Dec. 8, 1886. His ancestors came from Gloucester 

 shire, England, accompanying William Penn on his second visit. 

 His taste for natural history manifested itself at an early age, and 

 was fostered by his mother, who was fond of botany, and by his 

 association with Vanuxem, then a youth, who was devoted to 

 mineralogy and geology, then hardly organized as sciences. 

 Their studies were undirected ; but. in 1815, they became mem 

 bers of the Academy of Natural Sciences, then about three years 

 old. Though engaged in business, young Lea became an active 

 member of the Academy, and published a mineralogical paper in 

 its journal in 1817. This was followed by a very long series of 

 contributions to mineralogy and conchology, recent and fossil, 

 which have made his name familiar to naturalists all over the 

 world. 



He married, in 1821, Miss Frances A. Carey, daughter of Mat 

 thew Carey, the well-known economist, and became a member of 

 the publishing house of Carey & Sons, from which he retired in 

 1851. Mr. Lea's married life was exceptionally long and happy, 

 lasting fifty-two years, and blessed with a daughter and two sons, 

 who still survive. One of these sons is the well-known student 

 of ecclesiastical history, while the other has long stood at the head 

 of American photographic chemists. 



In 1825 began those studies of fresh-water and land shells, 

 especially the Unios, with which Dr. Lea's name will always be 

 associated. In 1836 he published his first "Synopsis" of the 



