26 



THE MUSEUM. 



of Philadelphia. He published noth- 

 ing further until 1868, when appeared 

 a paper in the A//i. Jour, of Conchol- 

 ogy" "On the Mollusks of the Mo- 

 hawk valley." In 1869, in the same 

 journal, he published a valuable pap- 

 er "On the Shells of the Coosa river," 

 Alabama. The bibliography and in- 

 dices of Dr. Lea's "Synopsis of the 

 Unionidae" next engaged his attention, 

 and they are, in great part, largely ar- 

 ranged by him. His last published 

 work of value appears in the Geologi- 

 cal Report of Alabama for 1875 (O. 

 and contains the almost complete 

 geographical distribution, by streams, 

 of the shells of that state. Some very 

 suggestive remarks are likewise ap- 

 pended as notes to the work which he 

 has there performed. The major part 

 of his life's work remains behind him 

 in the form of MSS., many of which 

 had they been published, would add 

 largely to our knowledge of fresh-water 

 forms. The great work of Dr. Lewis 

 was as a systematist. In this field he 

 was an acknowledged master, and here 

 his services were frequently required 

 by individuals and freely given. He 

 arranged and classified many public 

 collections, among which were the 

 American fresh-water shells in the 

 Smithsonian Institution, the last criti- 

 cal revision of which was made by him; 

 the collection of the Buffalo Acad, of 

 Nat. Sci., those of Vassar College, 

 Mount Holyoke Seminary, Wellesley 

 and Hamilton colleges, and the State 

 Cabinet at Albany. The examination 

 of these extensive collections furnished 

 him with material for the determina- 

 tion of synonomy, which, had he lived 

 to complete it, would have very great- 

 ly reduced the number of acknowledged 

 species. In work of this character he 

 was truly philosophic, and his opinions 

 commanded and obtained respect. 

 The great changes in scientific thought 

 occasioned by the doctrines of evolu- 

 tion, found an ardent advocate in him, 

 and those great principles formed the 

 basis of all his later work. He has 

 often remarked, and repeated it to 



others in his correspondence, that the 

 great work of the future would be done 

 from this standpoint, and "much re- 

 mains to be done in eradicating the 

 errors of the older naturalists." He 

 was a conscientious worker, an acute 

 thinker, and a man of great research. 

 In the prosecution of his studies he 

 was indefatigable, and here was the 

 cause of his death — a nervous disorder 

 which reached its climax in his death. 

 He lived but five hours after the ap- 

 oplectic scroke, and died without re- 

 gaining consciousness. His merits 

 were recognized by various scientific 

 societies in electing him to a member- 

 ship, among which were the Philadel- 

 phia Academy, the Boston Society 

 Nat. Hist., the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science and 

 the Buffalo Academy. To the publi- 

 cations of all these he was a contribu- 

 tor." 



His collection of shells since his 

 death has been kept in a mammoth 

 cabinet of nearly lOO draws. While 

 not one of the largest in the country 

 by any means, still it is a valuable one 

 on account of its accnrncv. Dr. Lewis 

 was a close personal friend of Dr. Lea 

 who was our greatest living authority 

 on the Uniodae, and at least some of 

 most every specie of Unio in the Lew- 

 is collection had at one time or an- 

 other been verified by Dr. Lea. Again 

 samples of a great many of the Lea 

 types were presented to Dr. Lewis for 

 services rendered. 



The Unio covered some 500 species 

 and 3000 specimens. 



The American Land Shells were a 

 fine lot and include 3000 specimens. 



The American Fresh Water Shells 

 outside of Unios compromised over 

 1500 entries and fully 10,000 shells. 

 We have not ascertained how many 

 species are represented. 



While Dr. Lewis was a specialist on 

 American Land and Fresh Water 

 Shells, still during his long collecting 

 experience he obtained many marine 

 shells and also Foreign Land and 

 Fresh Water shells. This branch of 



