213 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



very little. His report on the zoology of 

 the "Wilkes Expedition was practically sup- 

 pressed,! and for some unknown reason he 

 was not allowed to consult the collections he 

 had made, nor to use any of the large 

 number of colored plates prepared by him, 

 although later John Cassin was permitted 

 to do both. Of a projected work entitled 

 Lepidoptcru Americana, only a single part 

 was issued, in 1833; while his Lepidoptera 

 of North America was neyer completed. 

 This numuscript, Avith its accompanying 

 volumes of jilates, is among the material 

 secured by the American Museum, through 

 the interest of its librarian, Dr. R. W. 

 Tower. 



An excellent portrait of Peale is one of 

 the most important of the paintings secured 

 by the Museum, the others being sketches 

 made during the course of the Wilkes Expe- 

 dition. The paintings intended for plates in 

 the Lepidoptera of North America are ad- 

 mirably done, and in many cases portray the 

 various stages in the metamorphosis of the 

 insect. The text was to be very compre- 

 hensive and to pa}' especial attention to 

 habits — a branch of zoology still sadly neg- 

 lected. Too many of our younger natural- 



1 All abvidiied (•(>])>■ of tins, in Peale's liaiuhvritiiisc, is 

 aiiioiii; the iiiateri;il oIitaiiiiMl tiv tlic Muscuiii. 



ists seem to look upon the making of species 

 and subspecies as the principal object of 

 zoology, whereas these are merely bricks 

 from which master hands may construct 

 many an edifice of fact or theory. 



As evidenced by this manuscript, Peale's 

 style was interesting and had the literary 

 flavor that is too often lacking in modern 

 zoological papers — another too common mis- 

 take being to think that, because a paper is 

 full of little-known technical terms, it is 

 necessarily scientific. 



Those who look in encyclopedias for in- 

 formation in regard to Titian Ramsay Peale 

 will find little more than that he was the 

 fifth and youngest son of Charles Willson 

 Peale, a man a century in advance of his 

 time. Rembrandt Peale, another son, is 

 deemed worth,v a place in encyclopedias, but 

 the records omit mention of other members 

 of the family. 



Dr. Witmer Stone, of the Philadeliihia 

 Academy of Sciences, who has rescued many 

 interesting facts from undeserved oblivion, 

 has Avritten a biography of Titian Peale; 

 also a brief sketch of his life and works, 

 A\Titten by his relative, A. C. Peale, will be 

 found in the Bulletin of the Philosophical 

 Society of Washington, Vol. XIV, pp. 317- 

 326. 



M 



useum 



Notes 



Since the last issue of the Journal, the 

 following persons have become members of 

 the Museum: 



Fellow, Louis T. Haggin. 



Life Members, Mrs. William H. Crocker, 

 Mrs. Frederic S. Lee, and Messrs. R. 

 Clifford Black, George A. Crocker, Jr., 

 William Louis Garrels, lR\aNG B. Kings- 

 ford, Alfred F. Lichtenstein, Malcolm 

 S. Mackay, Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr., 

 George D. Rosengarten, Valentine P. 

 Snyder, and Benjamin L. Webster. 



Annual Members, Mrs. J. C. Bernheim, 

 Mrs. Ransom S. Hooker, Mrs. Roger W. 

 Straus, Miss Meta Filers, and Messrs. 

 Charles D. Barry, Morton G. Bogue, W. 

 Ashley DeWolf, John H. Flagler, 

 Stephen B. Fleming, Edgar E. Frank, 

 Albert Greenberger, Harry F. Guggen- 



heim, Charles J. Hardy, J. B. Hayward, 

 George C. Heck, Peter Cooper Hewitt, N. 

 C. Kingsbury, William T. Koch, Arthur 

 LiPPER, Stephen C. Millett, C. E. Mitch- 

 ell, Philip A. Mosman, J. R. Ogden, 

 Stuart H. Patterson, O. B. Perry, Carroll 

 J. Post, Jr., Forrest Raynor, Francis J. 

 Rebman, Allen Merrill Rogers, Saul E. 

 Rogers, Walter E. Sachs, Archibald G. 

 Thacher, Theo. F. Whitmarsh, and Ed- 

 ward W. WOOLMAN. 



Sir Ernest Shackleton was elected an 

 Honorary Fellow of the American Museum 

 of Natural History at the regular meeting 

 of the executive committee of the board of 

 trustees on March 21, in appreciation of his 

 Avork in geographical research and in recog- 

 nition of his sj^lendid service to science and 

 to humanity. 



