8 PUBLICATIONS OF SPENCER F. BAIED. 



1851. Baird, Spexcer F.— Coutimied. 



" Goneial collections of Korth American reptiles are very rare in this country; that of the 

 Philadelphia Academy, as usual, being the best among public museums. 



"Fishes have been preserved in several museums throughout the country. The Boston 

 Natural History Society has the best series of North American marine species. The New 

 York Lyceum comes next. Neither possesses many fresh- water species, being vastly exceeded 

 in this respect by the collections of Professor Agassiz and my own. There is more difficulty in 

 preserving alcoholic specimens, as collections of reptiles and fishes must for the most part 

 necessarily be, than those that aie dried ; it is to this fact tliat the scanty representation of 

 these classes of vertebrata is owing. 



"Among insects, Coleoptera have been almost exclusively studied. The private collections 

 of Messrs. Leconte, Haldeman, Morris, Harris, Melsheimer, and many others are rich in 

 species. The Messrs. Leconte, father and sou, have the largest of these, embracing many 

 hundreds and indeed thousands of undescribed species. The public collection of the Acad- 

 emy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia and others are of less value. Lepidoptera, or but- 

 terflies and moths, come next. The best collection, perhap.s, of these is that of Mr. Titian 

 Peale, of Washington. Messrs. Harris, Morris, and Haldeman, and the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, have also good collections. 



"Comparatively little is known of the other orders of insects. The Neuroptera and Orthop- 

 tera of Now England have been collected by Dr. Harris; Diptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenop- 

 tera have been almost entirely neglected. Say is' almost the only American naturalist who 

 has occupied the whole field of entomology. 



" Spiders have been ably investigated and abundantly collected by Hentz, who is still con- 

 tinuing his labors in this department. Much, however, remains to be done. 



"The Podophthalmian Crustacea are preserved in various cabinets, although many species 

 yet await discovery. Messrs. Say, Dana, and Gibbes are the principal workers in this field. 

 The remaining orders, as Amphipoda, Entomostraca, Isopoda, &c., &c., have been almost 

 wholly neglected. 



" The North American worms have never been collected to any extent. 



" Of all in vertebrata the hard parts of mollusca or shells have received most attention in this 

 country. There are numerous valuable cabinets, public and private, including both domestic 

 and foreign species. The best public collection of American species is probably that of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences. Among private ones, may be named those of Dr. John C. Jay, 

 John S. Philips, Isaac Lea, Major John Leconte, J. G. Anthony, Professor Haldeman, and 

 others. Most of these gentlemen have had especial reference to Unionidae in their collections. 

 Nothing, however, has been done towards preserving a series of the animals of shells. 



"Very little is known of the Radiata of North America. A few species are preser\'ed in pub- 

 lic museums, but by far the most extensive collection is that belonging to Professor Agassiz. 



" Phanerogamic plants have received much attention, and the private collections of Doctors 

 Torrey, Gray, and others, with numerous public ones of greater or less extent, leave compar- 

 atively little to be desired in this resi^ect. Great additions are continually being received 

 from the country west of the Missi.ssippi, in collections made by officers of the Army and 

 private individuals. Among these should be mentioned Colonel Fremont, Colonel Emory, 

 Captain Stansbury, Major Rich, Messrs. Lindheimer, Wright, Fendler, Gregg, Wislizenus, 

 Drummond, and others. 



" Cryptogamic botany has been considerably neglected, until within a few years i)ast. The 

 best collections are in the hands of private individuals, as Messrs. Sullivan, Tuckemian, Cur- 

 tis, Bailey, Lesquereux, and others. A great deal remains still to be done in this branch of 

 botany. The work of Doctor Harvey on North American Alga?, in preparation for the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, will tend greatly to stimulate collectors to pay attention to this order. 



"Collections in palaeontology are quite numerous, though principally local. The best general 

 collection is that of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Their museum is incomparably richer, 

 than any other in this country, in collection of fossil vertebrata. The only collection of any ex- 

 tent, of the fossil boues found in the caves of the United States, is in the cabinet of this Institu- 

 tion. Of the interesting Eocene species of the Upper Missouri, Doctor Evans, of Washington, 

 has made an exceedingly valuable collection under direction of the Land Oflice. Next to this 

 comes a similar one mad e by Mr. Culbertson for the Smithsonian Institution. An excellent col- 

 lection of Tertiary fossils is in possession of Prof. F. S. Holmes, of Charleston, S. C. The Ter- 

 tiary and Cretaceous fossil shells in the Philadelphia Academy are very numerous in species. 



" Many of the mineralogical collections of this country are very comiilete, both as respects 

 domestic and foreign species. Such are the cabinets of Tale College, of the Academy of Nat- 

 ural Sciences, of Dartmouth College, of Bowdoin College, of Messrs. Markoe, Vaux, Clay, 

 Ashmead, Alger, Bouve, and others. The general interest in the subject of mineralogj' is 

 such as scarcely to require any additional stimulus, except so far as relates to geology. 



