THE BOARDMAN COLLECTION 101 



Boardman's residence, for the purpose of housing his 

 collection, but such a plan was never made effective. 



While at the time this offer was made to the city 

 thrQugh the library trustees, Mr. Boardman was much 

 disappointed, if, indeed, he was not displeased, at its 

 rejection — the gift was one of so marked a character 

 and was so generous — he was afterward glad that it had 

 not been accepted. This was because he realized the 

 city could not afford to employ a proper person to take 

 charge of the collection. In such want of care he fore- 

 saw that the collection might suffer from neglect, that 

 the most valuable specimens might disappear and that 

 in consequence the collection would lose its value and 

 be of little use to science. 



It was at this juncture that preliminary steps were 

 taken toward transferring the collection to the Provincial 

 Government of New Brunswick. It had been under- 

 stood that next to the city of Calais possessing it Mr. 

 Boardman had himself expressed a wish that it might 

 finally go to New Brunswick. The collection repre- 

 sented the fauna of the St. Croix valley, which was as 

 distinctively Canadian as it was American ; it had been 

 largely made up of specimens from the territory on both 

 sides of the St. Croix river and the natural home of the 

 collection should clearly be in the vicinity of the place 

 where it was made. Hon. William F. Todd and Hon. 

 George F. Hill, both of St. Stephen, N. B., and both 

 members of the Provincial Parliament were interested in 

 having the collection retained in New Brunswick and 

 their efforts had much to do in influencing the govern- 

 ment to its purchase. 



Speaking of the transfer of the Boardman collection to 



