178 .KEPOUT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



His last work is still the most comprehensive illustrated volume des- 

 criptive of the tishes of Massachusetts alone. 



David Humphreys Storer was born in Portland, Me., March 26, 

 1804; attended Bowdoin College and was graduated there in 1822; 

 then studied medicine, and was graduated from the medical depart- 

 ment of Harvard College in 1825. Immediately afterwards he estab- 

 lished himself in Boston as a general practitioner of medicine. In 

 1820 he married Abbv Jane Brewer, a sister of Dr. Thomas Brewer, 

 later known as a distinguished ornithologist. "" In 1837 he cooperated 

 with Jacob Bigelow, Edward Reynolds, and Oliver Wendell Holmes in 

 founding the Tremont Street Medical School. He became interested 

 in natuKil history, was one of the founders of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History,'"' "had the honor of lecturing to the society two suc- 

 ceeding seasons, 1831-32,"' on conchology. and in 1838 was elected 

 curator of the herpetological and ichthyological collections. He was 

 also "commissioned*" in 1837 as one of the commissioners to report 

 on the zoology and l)otany of Massachusetts under an act of the legis- 

 lature "approved 12th April, 1837," and reported in 1839 on the 

 herpetology as well as ichthyology of the state. 



In 1854 he was called to the professorship of obstetrics and medical 

 jurisprudence in the medical school of Harvard; in 1859 became also 

 the dean, and held both appointments till 1868. Meanwhile, from 

 1849 till 1858, he was physician to the Massachusetts General Hospital. 

 In 18G6 he served as president of the American Medical Association. 

 He was honored by Bowdoin College in 1876 with the degree of LL.D. 

 In 1883 he retired almost entirely from practice and spent the remain- 

 ing years of his life in the enjoyment of well-merited leisure. He 

 died in Boston in 1891. 



Store r's principal works relative to the region under consideration 

 are "A Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts," published in the Bos- 

 ton Journal of Natural History, in 1839 «; "A Synopsis of the Fishes of 



a The Report was published in the following forms: 



<1) A Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts. By D. Humphreys Storer, M. D. <Bostoii Journal 

 of Natural History, Vol. II, 1839, pp. 289-558, pi. vi-viii. 



Descriptions are given of 107 nominal species, 91 of which are salt or brackish water, and 16 fresh 

 water; in the concluding remarks, 9 additional undeterminate species are indicated as probable 

 inhabitants of the Ma.ssachusetts waters. 



(2) Supplement to the Ichthyological Report. <lb., Vol. Ill, 1841, pp. 267-273. 



(3) Additional Descriptions of, and Observations on, the Fishes of Massachusett.s. 1842. <Ib., IV., 

 1844, pp. 175-190. 



A second supplement to the report. 



(4) Reports on the Ichthyology and Herpetology of Massachusetts. By D. Humphreys Storer, M. D. 

 <Reports on the fishes, reptiles, and birds of Ma.ssachnsetts. Published agreeably to an order of the 

 legislature, by the commissioners on the zoological and botanical survey of the State. Boston : Dutton 

 & Wentworth, State Printers. 1839. [8vo, xii pp. +2 1. +426 pp., 4 pl.] Pp. 1-253, with half-title-^Fishe.<i 

 of MassachiTsetts— pp. 1-202, pl. 1-3. 



The Report on the Fishes is the same as that piibli.shed in the Boston Journal of Natural History, but 

 (1) an entirely different introduction is added, (2) the supplementary observations on Carcharias 

 obscurus (B. J., Ill, 558) are omitted, and (3) supplementary oljservations are added (pp. 405-409) on 

 several species. 



The plates are evidently printed from tlie same lithographic stones. 



