Beginnings of Natural History in America. 405 



tercentenary of American biology to read this review of the work of the 

 men of old. 



Monuments are not often erected to men of science. More enduring, 

 however, than monuments are those living and self-perpetuating memo- 

 rials, the plants and animals which bear the names of the masters who 

 knew them and loved them. " Well have the Agassizs remarked that 

 ' ' there is a world of meaning hidden under our zoological and botanical 

 nomenclature, known only to those who are intimately acquainted with 

 the annals of scientific life in its social as well as its professional aspect. ' ' ' 



I hope I am not at this day entirely alone in my appreciation of the 

 extreme appropriateness of this time-honored custom, although I know 

 that many of our too matter-of-fact naturalists are disposed to abandon 

 it, and that it is losing much of its former significance. In fact, in these 

 days of unstable nomenclature, such tributes are often very evanescent. 

 It seems fortunate that the names of some of the most honored of the 

 early naturalists are perpetuated in well-established generic and specific 

 combinations." 



When I see the Linnaa borcalis, I am always reminded of the sage of 

 Upsala, as he is represented in the famous Amsterdam painting, clad in 

 Ivapland fur, and holding a spray of that graceful arctic plant. Magnolia 

 and Wistaria call up the venerable professors of botany at Montpelier and 

 Philadelphia. Tradescantia virginica reminds me of John Tradescant 

 and the Ashmolean Museum, whose beginnings were gathered by him 

 in Virginia. The cape jessamine (^GardeJiia) , the spring beauty {Clay- 

 ton i a), the partridge berry {Mitcliella) , the iron weed {Vernonia), the 

 Q nor us bartramii ( = Q. heterophylla') , the Scams catesbyi, Thalictriim 

 and Asclepias cormcfi, Macriirus fabricii, Didelphys and Canis azara;, 

 Chaidiodiis sloanei, Alutcra schoefii, Sterna forsteri, Stolcphoriis mitchilli, 

 Malacantlius plutnicri, Salix cutlcri, 2i\\6. Pimisbanksiana, \h&Kalmia, the 

 Jcffersonia, the Hernandia, the Comptonia, the Sarraccnia, the Gaulthcria, 

 the Kuhnia, the Ellisia, the Coldenia, the Robinia, the Banistcria, the 

 Phimicria, the Collinsonia, the Bartramia, all bear the names of men 

 associated with the beginnings of natural history in America. 



Yet, pleasant as it is to recall in such manner the achievements of the 



' Seaside Studies in Natural History, p. 25. 



= The genus Harriotta has been dedicated by Goode and Bean to the memory of 

 Thomas Harriot. It is intended to embrace a long-rostrated chimgeroid fish from 

 deep water off the Atlantic coast of North America. The description is not yet 

 published. Heriot's Isle, named for Harriot by the early explorers, and shown 

 upon Vaughan's map, in Smith's General History of Virginia, has entirely dis- 

 appeared. It was situate on the north side of Albemarle Sound, about midway 

 between Roanoke Island and the mouth of Chowan River. Whether it has been 

 swept away by the tides, or has become a part of the mainland, it is difficult to say. 

 The latter supposition seems the most probable, and since it is in all likelihood 

 Reeds Point which now occupies its former location, the propriety is suggested of 

 calling this little cape Harriots Point, in memory of the explorer. 



