SKETCH OF ALPHEUS SPRING PACKARD. 261 



with, others by the same autlior, was published in the first report 

 of the survey. 



Mr. Packard had now fully decided to devote himself to zo- 

 ology, and, in order to widen his views and increase his knowl- 

 edge, he went to Canibridge to study with Agassiz. Here for 

 three years he devoted himself to entomology and made such 

 progress that during the latter part of the time he held the posi- 

 tion of assistant. He laid a broad foundation for his future 

 studies in entomology, and in a paper published in 18G3, under the 

 title " Synthetic Types in Insects," he introduced new views into 

 the classification of these forms. From that date to the present 

 time not a year has passed without numerous articles from his 

 pen, a mere list of which would occupy more space than can be 

 devoted to this sketch. 



At the same time that he was studying zoology he was read- 

 ing medicine and attending lectures during the winter term at 

 the medical school connected with his Alma Mater, where in 

 1864 he passed the necessary examinations and received his doc- 

 tor's degree. In the summer of the same year he set sail again 

 for Labrador, this time in company with the marine artist Brad- 

 ford, to collect materials for a memoir of the geology and natural 

 history of that then little-known region. On his former trip he 

 had visited only the southern portion of the coast. This time 

 he went as far north as Hopedale, dredging at favorable locali- 

 ties along the shore, and everywhere paying attention to the 

 geology and especially to the former traces of glacial action. 



The results of this trip were not, however, to be immediately 

 worked up, for on his return to Brunswick he enlisted for three 

 years as assistant surgeon in the First Regiment of Maine Vete- 

 ran Volunteers, and marched away to join the Army of the Poto- 

 mac, While in Virginia the scientific passion ruled strong, and 

 many an insect fell a victim to the collecting-bottle. Fortunately, 

 before the three years for which he enlisted were over, the war 

 came to an end, and Dr. Packard was mustered out in July, 18G5, 

 after a military and medical experience of ten months. 



He now returned to Boston, and for a while acted as librarian 

 and custodian at the Boston Society of Natural History, at the 

 same time working up the results of his Labrador explorations, 

 which were published as a memoir by the Boston Society of Nat- 

 ural History in 1867, and which still remain the chief source of 

 our knowledge of the fauna and geology of that region. The 

 stay in Boston was, however, of short duration, for at this time 

 the Essex Institute, at Salem, Mass., was displaying great activ- 

 ity in the line of natural history, and negotiations were in prog- 

 ress with the London banker, George Peabody, looking toward 

 an endowment for science in Essex County. These plans rapidly 



