88 



THE MUSEUM 



strongly impressed that such a thing 

 might be and allow you to deduce a 

 conclusion. 



But for the present I shall desist 

 lest my verbosity wearies you. At 

 another time, if desired, I have many 

 reminiscences to impose npon you — 

 what I saw in the Mexican National 

 Museum and many other things. 

 James J. Cauroll, 



Refugio, Texas. 



Reminiscences of a Naturalist. 



In the summer of 1864 I met that 

 veteran conchologist, Dr. Wesley New- 

 comb, for the first time, having called 

 upon him in response to an invitation 

 sent to me through the late Dr. Wil- 

 liam M. Gobb, the latter at that time 

 holding the position of Paleontologist 

 to the Geological Survey of California, 

 of which Prof. J. D. Whitney was the 

 director. I remember very clearly 

 the afternoon when I first met the 

 worthy doctor, and the acquaintance- 

 ship then commenced developed mto 

 a friendship that continued for many 

 years. 



At the time referred to he lived in 

 Oakland, California, where he pursued 

 his profession and had an extensive 

 practice. Dr. Newcomb lived to a 

 ripe old age. He outlived his other 

 scientific or rather conchological 

 friends; Gould, the elder Binney, An- 

 thony, Bland, Reeve, Cuming and 

 others of England who were also his 

 frienus and correspondents. For many 

 years he lived in the Sandwich Islands 

 and there had excellent opportunities 

 for collecting not only the beautiful 

 land shells of that remarkable insular 

 group, Achatinella', the geological dis- 

 tribution of which is nearly if not 

 wholly confined to said islands, but 

 also many interesting and attractive 

 marine and fresh water species. Dr. 

 Newcomb improved the opportunity 

 to make not only an exhaustive collec- 

 tion of the Achatinelhe, but also to 

 make a thorough study of these some- 

 what variable and therefore difficult 

 shells. By careful comparisons he 



reached conclusions which are probab- 

 ly more correct than the greater por- 

 tion of the work of others in the shells 

 of this group. 



At the time Dr. Newcomb resided 

 in the islands the Achatinella- were 

 abundant, and therefore he had no 

 lack of material. Since and of late 

 years, with the clearing of the lands 

 and the development of agriculture, 

 these shells have been gradually, even 

 rapidly decreasing, and now have, it 

 is Said, ceased to be numerous. Dr. 

 Newcomb described many new species, 

 and had a very fine collection of these 

 forms. His residence in the islands 

 also gave him unusual advantages in 

 the way of obtaining shells from the 

 whaling vessels which at that time 

 made Honolulu a base for supplies, 

 etc. ; and, again, from his missionary 

 friends who were established in other 

 islands near or remote, who occasion- 

 ally visited Honolulu, he received 

 many additions to his collection of 

 much value. As Dr. Newcomb was 

 always liberal in explaining and giving 

 outright his simple specimens, he natu- 

 rally received from many grateful recip- 

 ients of his favors whatever they could 

 furnish that might be desiderata to 

 him. He also, as before stated, reck- 

 oned many well-known and leading 

 conchologists among his correspond- 

 ents and friends, and Cuming espec- 

 ially contributed many rare and desir- 

 able specimens to the Newcomb mu- 

 seum in return for what the Doctor 

 had sent to enrich the Cumingian cab- 

 inet. After Dr. Newcomb came to 

 California and made Oakland his 

 home, he continued as before with 

 unremitting effort to add to his already 

 large and valuable collection by col- 

 lecting himself the shells of the Pacific 

 coast, and by encouraging and assist- 

 ing others to do the same. He de- 

 scribed several species of West Ameri- 

 can land and marine shells and his con- 

 chological papers were published in the 

 proceedings of the California Acad- 

 eniy of Sciences and elsewhere. 



The good Doctor also collected in 



