26 MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY 



forming the Librarian's duties at Cambridge, Harris formed a pri- 

 vate class in entomology which met on one evening in every week; 

 and it appears also that he had apparently expected and hoped to be 

 made full professor of natural history in the College. These hopes, 

 however, were not fulfilled, and Dr. Asa Gray was chosen for the 

 post in 1842. Of course, Gray's claims were very high, and it was 

 necessary, apparently, to appoint a botanist of the highest attain- 

 ments who should have charge of the botanical garden. Harris' dis- 

 appointment was never voiced, and he continued his work in his 

 quiet, efficient way, all the time contributing articles on entomology 

 and horticulture to scientific and agricultural journals. He was an 

 excellent botanist and this fact helped to make his entomological 

 work broader and sounder. American entomologists of today may 

 well think with pride of the man who was really the founder of ap- 

 plied entomology in this country." 



Soon after coming to Cambridge in 1847, Louis Agassiz began to 

 amass a collection of zoological, palaeontological and other speci- 

 mens, which were added to those already possessed by the University 

 and later moved to the Museum of Comparative Zoology as soon as a 

 portion of its building had been completed in 1 859. His interest in all 

 fields of zoology was so intense and well-balanced that collections of 

 insects were not neglected, and his solicitude for the care and study 

 of these collections was shown in his wise selection of curators and 

 their assistants in this department of the Museum. 



During 1862 Samuel Scudder (1837-1911) had charge of the in- 

 sect collections. He was assistant to Agassiz and custodian of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History until 1870 and Assistant Librarian 

 of Harvard College, 1879-82. Besides aiding in founding the Cam- 

 bridge Entomological Society in 1874 and publishing the journal 

 " Psyche," two ventures which have survived to the present time and 

 have aided greatly in the cooperation of the entomologists in New 

 England, Scudder, in his researches, covered a wide field and greatly 

 increased our knowledge of entomology. His work on the Orthop- 

 tera and butterflies of North America is still of great value. As palae- 

 ontologist of the United States Geological Survey, 1886-92, he laid 

 the foundations of the study of insect palaeontology in our country. 

 He described more than one thousand species of fossil insects and 

 published a catalogue of the known fossil species of the world. His 



