Beginiiiugs of Natural History in .Inicrica. 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 intimatel}^ 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 Linncra borcalis, I am always reminded of the sage of 

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

 I^apland fur, and holding a spray of that graceful arctic plant. Magnolia 

 and J Vis/aria 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 {Gardcmia) , the spring beauty {Clay- 

 tonia), the partridge berry {Mitcliella), the iron weed {Venwnia), the 

 Que reus bartramii ( = ^. heterophylla) , the Scams catesbyi, Thalictruvi 

 and Asclepias cornuti, Macrurus fabricii, Didclphys and Cayiis azam, 

 Chauliodiis sloanei, Alutera schcefii, Sterna forsteri, Stolephorus mitchilli, 

 Malacanthus pliunieri, Salix cutleri, qxkI Pi7ms banksiana, \he. Kah?iia , the 

 Jefferso7na, the Hernandia, the Comptonia, the Sarrace7iia, the Gaidthcria, 

 the Kuluiia, the Ellisia, the Coldenia, the Robi?iia, the Banisteria, the 

 Phanieria, the Collinsonia, the Bart^^aniia^ 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-rostratcd chinueroid 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 tlie north side of Albemarle Sound, about midway 

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



