CHAPTER V. 



RETURN TO PHILADELPHIA. — EXTRACTS OF LETTERS ON SCIENTIFIC 

 SUBJECTS. — CONTINUED RESEARCH. — PRESENT OCCUPATIONS. 



Dr. Lea arrived iu Philadelphia November 14, 1853, where he found 

 the accumulation of correspondence and specimens during his absence 

 to have been enormous. On these he set to work with vigor, but the 

 inflow continued in such a regular stream that he was unable to dimin- 

 ish the material on hand, and some twenty-five years afterward, when 

 he was suddenly taken ill in California, his cabinet was overcrowded 

 with material awaiting his investigations. Many new correspondents, 

 I)articularly from the Southern and Southwestern States, sent him col- 

 lections of new mollusca, requesting him to name those that were new, 

 and give them the names of all the species. Among these was the Right 

 Rev. Stephen Elliott, bishop of Georgia, who, above all others, most 

 abundantly supplied him with the mollusca of that State. The Bishop 

 at that time was personally a stranger to Dr. Lea, but the beauty of the 

 Unionidce of his State had attracted his attention, and he applied to him 

 requesting the favor of his correspondence. As Dr. Lea had been de- 

 siring a correspondent in Georgia for many years, this was gladly ac- 

 cepted, and it resulted iu a warm friendship which lasted until the death 

 of the Bishop. Shortly after this correspondence commenced he visited 

 Philadelphia to attend the convention of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church, when Dr. Lea first made his personal acquaintance. He was 

 enthusiastic in his j)ursuit of this branch of natural science, and told 

 Dr. Lea in i^arting that he would have" every nook and corner of Georgia 

 searched for him," and that he " would keep him busy for the next 

 eighteen months in describing new species." This promise was more 

 than fulfilled, and Dr. Lea was nearly three years occupied almost ex- 

 clusively in describing and publishing Georgian species, one of the most 

 beautiful of which he named Unio Elliottii, in honor of the Bishop. He 

 induced many of his friends from distant parts of the State to collect 

 specimens and send them direct to Dr. Lea. Mr. Couper of Darien, 

 Mr. Hallenback and Dr. Boykin of Columbus, Mr. Postell of Saint Si- 

 mon's Island, Dr. Stewardson and Mr. Plant of Mac(m, supplied a number 

 of new species, and had their names given to new Uniones. The Bishop, 

 when visiting distant parts of his diocese, where the mollusca in the 

 small streams of the hill country differed from those of the broad rivers 

 of the lowlands, collected specimens which generally proved new. From 

 time to time for many years he sent Dr. Lea the included soft parts of 



