SPENCER F. BAIRD. 737 



published fourteen papers on this branch of science beside nine of which 

 he was the joint autlior with Charles Girard. His activity in original 

 work in this, as in some other directions, came to an end with the as- 

 sumption of the burden of administrative work required by the organ- 

 ization and development of the Fish Commission. 



Many of his herpetological papers were elaborate studies. One of 

 the most important of the early memoirs was that on the reptiles of 

 Stansbury's expedition to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and another, 

 that on those collected by the United States exploring expedition un- 

 der Wilkes. The catalogue of North American Eeptiles in the collec- 

 tion of the Smithsonian Institution is a classical work, serving to the 

 present day as a text-book for students of herpetology. In 1859 ap- 

 peared his great study of the reptiles collected by the parties engaged 

 in the explorations for a Pacific Railroad, a monument of patient re- 

 search and discriminating analysis. After this his contributions to 

 the subject were mostly short papers or announcements of new or inter- 

 esting facts. 



At the time Professor Baird began his studies of the amphibia 

 little had been done for herpetology in America. The classical work 

 of Holbrook contained little more than descriptions of Southern species, 

 and the work of Dumeril and Bibron was equally meager. Immense 

 collections were placed in Baird's hands from the Western plains, and 

 the work upon these was necessarily in great part original. How well 

 this work was done is shown by the fact that, in spite of the changes 

 which are constant in zoological classification, nearly all the species 

 still retain the names he applied to them. The descriptions were so 

 carefully prepared that later students have never been troubled in 

 making their identifications. 



Notwithstanding his multifarious duties in later years, Professor 

 Baird never lost his interest in these animals, and up to the last af- 

 forded every aid and encouragement to those studying them. Much 

 of the work done in this country by such herpetologists as Girard, 

 Kennicott, Hallowell, Cope, and others, found in his example and en- 

 couragement the stimulus which made it possible, was built on the 

 foundations which he laid, and owes its publication to agencies which 

 he promoted or controlled. 



Fishes. Professor Baird's contributions to ichthyological literature 

 number some fourteen or fifteen papers, chiefly of a descriptive charac- 

 ter, embodying the results of original research into the ichthyology of 

 western and southwestern America and of the marine fishes of New 

 Jersey and New York. Most of these papers were published jointly 

 with Charles Girard. 



Besides these, however, he added more than four hundred titles to 



the list of reviews, notices, reports, translations, and official documents 



relating to economic ichthyology, lish culture, and the general progress 



of the science. In this way he was instrumental in bringing together 



H. Mis. 14J 47 



