[hay] the scientific WORK OF PROF. HARTT 137 



When a mere lad Hartt gave evidence of a taste for natural history, 

 especially geology. During his school and college vacations, between 

 the age of ten and twenty, he travelled over the greater part of Nova 

 Scotia on foot, examining its rich geological features, pursuing inde- 

 pendent investigations, and making large collections. These collections 

 have been widely scattered, but they are still largely represented in the 

 Museum of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, at McGill 

 University, Montreal, and at the Museum of Harvard University, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., and in the Museum of Cornell University, Ithaca, New 

 York. The original investigations which he carried on, especially in the 

 Lower Carboniferous and coal measures of Nova Scotia, attracted the 

 attention of Dr. J. W. (now Sir William) Dawson, whose work on 

 "Acadian Geology '" has numerous references to the rich discoveries of 

 the student-naturalist. By the advice of Dr. Dawson, Hartt became a 

 student under Agassiz in his famous museum at Cambridge, Mass., but 

 he continued to spend his vacations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

 In the latter province he carried on his work partly alone and partly in 

 connection with the geological survey, associated with Prof. Bailey and 

 Dr. C F. Matthew. Hartt, Matthew, and a few other kindred spirits 

 formed the '•' Steinhammer Club," of St. John, from which originated the 

 Natural History Society of New Brunswick. Hartt soon became deeply 

 absorbed in the rich fossiliferous flora and fauna of the Cambrian and 

 Devonian formations about St. John, especially in what is known as the 

 '•' Fern Ledges," on the Lancaster beach, about two miles west of that 

 city, researches that drew upon the young naturalist the attention of 

 the scientific world. It was in these ledges that Hartt discovered the 

 wings of insects, representing five species, the oldest then known to 

 science. These were studied and named by Mr, S. H. Scudder, of 

 Boston, and he has referred them all to the Neuroptera family. Hartt, 

 in connection with Prof. Bailey and Dr. Matthew, obtained from the 

 older rocks in the vicinity of St. John the first large collection of fossils 

 from the primordial, or what is since better known as the Acadian group, 

 ^vhich Dr. Matthew is now working with such signal success. Of these 

 discoveries Dr. Dawson said^ : " The collection and determination of 

 the Cambrian fossils, of what is now known as the Acadian group, and 

 the excavation of the numerous fossil plants of the Devonian of the same 

 district, constitute in my judgment two of the most important advances 

 ever made in the palœontology of Eastern America, and are even yet 

 bearinof fruit." 



1 The Annual Address of President J. W. Dawson, before the Natural Historj' 

 Society of Montreal, May 18th, 1878. 



Sec. IV., 1899. 10a, 



