68 Journal New York Entomological Society, f'^'o'- X-^IL 



doubt. This portrait is reproduced by Scudder in his Butterflies of 

 North America. His handwriting is well known from his notes 

 which accompanied his drawings, but this signature has never been 

 seen in the memory of living men until recently. It is therefore re- 

 produced below. ^ 



John Abbot was born in 1750. His education was limited. His 

 grammatical blunders would be unpardonable in any grade above 

 elementary school. His name does not appear in the matriculation 

 lists of any university or great public school in the United Kingdom, 

 without which a private tutorship would be out of the question. He 

 did, however, teach school in Georgia, where at the time educational 

 facilities were almost non-existent, and where the second reader was 

 above the average comprehension. He was not a member of the 

 short-lived Entomological Club of London, 1781-3. He never heard 

 of the Linnean system until after 1805. That he was an Englishman 

 and that he did engage to collect insects for Francillon rests on tra- 

 dition too widespread to be controvertible. The date, 1790, is a 

 reasonable inference, as the results arriving in England date from 

 1793. If he did return to England about 1810, it was for a visit only. 

 His later home was in Bulloch Co., just across the Ogechee River from 

 Screven Co., and a day's journey by wagon from Savannah. He 

 never acquired wealth. At best he harvested a few bales of cotton, 

 sold through the same Savannah factor that w-as employed by the 

 prosperous grower of Sea Island cotton. Dr. Oemler, of \\'ilmington 

 Island. His old age was simple in the extreme. A couple of dollars 

 a Aveek or less supplied his wants. He dreamed of no laurels to be 

 placed upon his brow, unless some stranger held out this will o' the 

 wisp in his age and infirmity. In all probability he lies in an un- 

 marked grave in Bulloch Co., for in those days tombstones were 

 unusual, vital statistics were not kept there and even land titles were 

 seldom registered. 



Who was John Abbot? He was an untutored optimist, with a 

 constitutional smile, who looked forward only to the day's reward, 

 who had talent with the brush, who had the assiduity to rear every 

 insect species he could for over fifty years. May the earth lie lightly 

 upon him. No man has done better. 



1 Some years ago Qiiaritch, the London bookseller, secured a small quarto 

 volume of the drawings, which contains an undoubtedly authentic signature. 



