SKETCH OF DR, ASA FITCH. 117 



tomology quickly declared itself, and it was not long before the insects 

 had more or less complete possession. He graduated with honor at the 

 Rensselaer School with the class of 1827, and immediately after, at 

 the instance of his father, began a course of medical studies, attending 

 lectures at the Vermont Academy of Medicine, at Castleton, but still 

 giving much of his time to the study of insects, the observation of which 

 had now become almost a passion. He persevered, however, in the 

 medical course, graduating M. D. in 1829, and afterward attended lec- 

 tures at Rutgers Medical College, in New York City, concluding his 

 preparation for the profession in the office of the late Dr. March, 

 of Albany. While thus engaged he made industrious use of the libra- 

 ries of that city so far as they could aid in advancing his knowledge 

 of entomology. Being unable to purchase the books he needed, and 

 determined to possess all the information they contained about the in- 

 sects of this country, he copied with gi-eat accuracy and rapidity, from 

 the various entomological works in both the State and academy libra- 

 ries, all that had then been written on American insects. 



His medical studies terminated, in the capacity of Assistant Pro- 

 fessor of Natural History he accompanied the Rensselaer School Expe- 

 dition of 1830 to Lake Erie, having then just attained his majority. 

 The President of the school, Professor Eaton, regarded him at this 

 time as the best entomologist in the United States, and he was urged 

 by his friends to publish on the subject. He replied that " Sir Walter 

 Scott was above half right, * Study in youth, and publish in mature 

 life,' " a precept the youthful investigator followed. At the western 

 terminus of the expedition, Dr. Fitch left the party and traveled ex- 

 tensively in the Western States, collecting and analyzing the rare 

 species of insects found in the localities visited. He returned home in 

 the summer of 1831, and almost immediately began the practice of his 

 profession at Fort Miller, New York, having his office with Dr. Tayler 

 Lewis, afterward the distinguished Professor of Greek in Union Col- 

 lege. 



November 15, 1832, Dr. Fitch married Elizabeth, daughter of John 

 McNeil, of Stillwater, New York, and soon after removed to that 

 place, continuing the practice of the profession he cordially hated, for 

 six years. In 1838 he gave up practice and returned to Salem, to as- 

 sume the management of his father's business, for which the latter had 

 become incapacitated by ill health. From this time he devoted him- 

 self largely to agricultural pursuits, which gave more ample opportu- 

 nities for investigation in his favorite field, that he was not slow to im- 

 prove. It is related that he would frequently be seen after a shower, 

 on his hands and knees, searching about for insects and all manner of 

 " creeping things," and would finally return to the house with his tall 

 old hat completely covered inside and out with the writhing victims 

 of his scientific greed. He was nicknamed " The Bug-Catcher " by his 

 neighbors ; and so eager became his quest for curious specimens in 



