108 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



J. p. COUTHOUY. 



Joseph Pitty Couthouy. 



Among the early papers on mollusca in the Journal of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History none are more finished and 

 satisfactory than those by Joseph Pitty Couthouy. Born in Bos- 

 ton January 6, 1808, of French extraction, I learn that he joined 

 the Boston Latin School with the class which entered in 1820. 

 His tastes were for a seafaring life ; he shipped on board his 

 father's vessel and rose rapidly in his profession. He married 

 Mary Greenwood Wild, March 9, 1833. He became a member 

 of the Boston Society of Natural History April 6. 1836, and in 

 the reference to his first paper, read October 5, 1836, I find him 

 styled Captain Couthouy. A year later the United States explor- 

 ing expedition under Wilkes was projected, and, full of enthusiasm, 



