38 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1919. 



NECROLOGY. 



Richard Rathbiin, late assistant secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, and for nearly 20 years in charge of the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, was born in Buffalo, New York, January 25, 1852, 

 and died in Washington, D. C, July 16, 1918. He attended the 

 public schools until the age of 15 years, when he entered the service 

 of a firm of contractors, AVliitmore, Rathbun & Co., the owners of 

 several quarries in western New York. He continued with this firm 

 for a period of four years as bookkeeper, financial clerk, and over- 

 seer of work, thereby obtaining a good knowledge of business 

 methods. 



At the age of 16 years, attracted by the fossils in the quarries 

 referred to, he began a study of the paleontology of the region about 

 Buffalo, to which, however, he could only devote his holidays and 

 evenings. He founded the collection of paleontology in the museum 

 of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, of which section he be- 

 came the curator. The unique and undescribed species obtained by 

 him were, however, turned over later to the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology of Harvard University. 



In 1871, when 19 years old, he met Charles Frederic Hartt, pro- 

 fessor of geology at Cornell University, and a former pupil of Louis 

 Agassiz, by whom he was persuaded to give up business and devote 

 his life to science. He accordingly entered Cornell University, and, 

 while pursuing a regular course, his special studies were in geology 

 and paleontology. 



Professor Hartt had accompanied Professor Agassiz to Brazil on 

 the famous Thayer expedition, and had made two subsequent trips 

 to that country. The Emperor, Dom Pedro II, had offered Hartt 

 his patronage in the organization of a geological survey of his coun- 

 try, and Mr. Rathbun, becoming imbued with the enthusiasm of his 

 chief, put himself in training for that field. 



Soon after entering Cornell, the collections of Devonian and Cre- 

 taceous fossils previously obtained by Hartt in Brazil were turned 

 over to him for working up. The monographs on these two gi'oups 

 were finished in about two years, to the extent possible at Cornell 

 University. Mr. Rathbun then completed the work on the Devonian 

 paper at Albany, New York, with the assistance and advice of Prof. 

 James Hall. It was printed in 1874. 



The paper on Cretaceous fossils required extensive studies at the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, whither he went in the spring of 

 1873, the last year of the life of Louis Agassiz, whose lectures he 

 attended. From this famous naturalist he received every kindness 

 and obtained free access to the collections. This paper was published 

 in 1875. 



