400 



Dr. C. T. Jackson observed, that it was the opinion of Mr. 

 Townend Glover, now engaged by the U. 8. Patent Office in 

 studying the insects injurious to cotton and other American 

 crops, that among the most inveterate foes to noxious insects are 

 insectivorous insects themselves. 



September 15, 1858. 

 The President in the Chair. 



The President said it was his painful duty to an- 

 nounce the death of a valued Corresponding Member of 

 the Society, Dr. Francis W. Cragin. Dr. Cragin was 

 for many years a resident in Parimaribo, Surinam, where 

 he practised the profession of Medicine, and was highly 

 respected as the most accomplished physician and sur- 

 geon in the colony. He was also for many years the 

 United States consular agent in Dutch Guiana. 



It was not, however, in connection with his profes- 

 sional reputation, or as the consular agent of our gov- 

 ernment that he becomes the subject of a notice before 

 this Society. An examination of our records shows that 

 for many years he was one of our most generous bene- 

 factors, and that from him we have received a large 

 number of donations of great zoological and anatomical 

 interest. Those who are aware of the circumstances 

 under which they were collected in a tropical country, 

 and of the expenditure of means which they involved, 

 will feel that the Society is under no ordinary obligations 

 to him for his benefactions. Though not professedly a 

 naturalist, he was an ardent lover and keen observer of 

 nature, and it was in consequence of these elements of 

 his character, as well as from a wholly disinterested 

 impulse to advance the cause of natural science, that he 



