56 Journal of the Mitchell Society [August 



Godman, 1825-33, in this country. One of the earliest techni- 

 cal papers of any considerable importance by a native Amer- 

 ican is Thomas Say's Crustacea of the United States (1817-18). 

 The first comprehensive work on natural history by a native 

 born American is Dr. Richard Harlan's Fauna Americana, 

 bearing the date 1825. This was followed by a valuable work 

 on insects, Thomas Say's American Entomology (1824-28), and 

 by Dr. John D. Godman's three volumes on N^orth American 

 mammals, (1826-28). Barton, Harlan, and Say were na- 

 tives of Philadelphia, and the two former taught in 

 medical schools in that city. Say's father was a physician 

 and apothecary. He himself was engaged in business, 

 unsuccessfully, in Philadelphia, and later in one of the 

 several attempts made to establish an ideal community — in 

 this case, in ISTew Harmony, Indiana. Godman was born in 

 Annapolis, Maryland, and taught in several medical schools. 

 These early naturalists have the personal interest attaching to 

 pioneers, and it will be seen that in America, as elsewhere, 

 zoology in its beginnings was frequently linked with the pro- 

 fession of medicine. The prominence of Philadelphia as an 

 early zoological centre should be noted. The Academy of Nat- 

 ural Sciences of that city, which has since become so famous, 

 was founded in 1812, Say joining the society in that year. 



With the appearance of the works just mentioned, the study 

 of natural history, viz., the description of species with accounts 

 of habits and local distribution, was well under way. In 1827 

 Audubon began to publish his famous and beautifully illus- 

 trated volumes on the " Birds of America." Isaac Lea 

 started a long series of contributions on the classification, anat- 

 omy, and embryology of fresh water mussels in 1829. Say's 

 Shells of N'orth America appeared in 1830, Conrad's American 

 Marine Conchology in 1831. Nuttall's Manual of Ornithology 

 of the United States and Canada came out in 1832-34. The 

 four volumes of the first edition of Holbrook's ISTorth American 

 Herpetology were published 1836-40. This work, a well known 

 classic dealing with the amphibia and reptiles, and ranking 

 with Audubon's Birds among the early achievements of Amer- 



