356 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



He was not, however, entirely happy in the confinement of the 

 walls of a museum. He constantly heard "the call of the wild," 

 and his heart longed for the life of the tropics, in w^hich he had 

 passed so many happy years. He proposed to the authorities of 

 the Carnegie Museum that he should be allowed to go to the United 

 States of Colombia to make collections. The writer agreed himself 

 to become the purchaser of the collections of lepidoptera which 

 might be made, the Carnegie Museum agreed to purchase the birds, 

 a set of the mammals, the ethnological material which might be 

 gathered, and to take one or more sets of the botanical specimens 

 collected. Accompanied by his wife and young son he set out for 

 Colombia to begin his work in the Province of Santa Marta. One 

 of the chronic revolutions of that period developed and he encoun- 

 tered much difficulty. The period from the fall of 1898 to the 

 spring of 1902 was spent in this work. It was a period of trial and 

 hardship. Mr. Smith finally fell ill and it was feared that he would 

 not recover. When at last he was pronounced to be out of danger, 

 the party hastened to return to the United States, and thenceforth 

 all thought of further investigations in the tropics was abandoned. 

 The collections made in the face of hardship and disease were 

 nevertheless large and valuable and contained many species wholly 

 new to science. 



Mr. Smith and his wife on their return resumed their employ- 

 ment at the Carnegie Museum, devoting themselves to the arrange- 

 ment of the Colombian material and to the classification of the 

 large and increasing collections of moUusca belonging to the 

 museum. One of the results- of this period is the "Catalog of the 

 Genus Partula," which was published in 1902. After about a year 

 in Pittsburgh Mr. and Mrs. Smith felt the need of a change and 

 resolved upon removal to Wetumpka, Ala., where they began the 

 systematic collection of fresh-water shells, belonging to the family 

 Strepomatidcr, which abound in the Coosa and other rivers of 

 that region. They were supported in their work by four ardent 

 conchologists: Mr. George H. Clapp, of Pittsburgh, Messrs. 

 John B. Henderson and T. H. Aldrich, of Washington, D. C, and 

 Mr. Bryant Walker, of Detroit, Mich., who formed a "syndicate" 

 to enable the work to be done. When Mr. Aldrich dropped out of 

 their number. Professor H. A. Pilsbry, of the Academy of Natural 



