316 



PSYCHE. 



[September 1S92. 



aside for the present, because their false views on the forms which have not been 



arrangement would only cause more examined by us. Meanwhile we recom- 



confusion than already exists. Farther mend that the possessors of types ex- 



011 in our work we will express our amine them in the light of our system. 



IOHN WITT RANDALL. 



Dr. J. W. Randal] who died at Rox- 

 burv, Mass., 25 January 1892 is known 

 to the present generation of entomolo- 

 gists as the author of 'two papers de- 

 scriptive of Coleoptera from Maine and 

 Massachusetts published more than fifty 

 years ago in the second volume of the 

 Boston journal of natural history. 

 John Witt Randall was born in Boston, 

 13 November 1S13. His father Dr. 

 John Randall was an eminent physician 

 of Boston and his mother Elizabeth 

 Wells was the granddaughter of Samuel 

 Adams the revolutionary patriot. He 

 graduated from Harvard College in 

 1834. One of his classmates says: "he 

 displayed a marked originality of char- 

 acter. Though among us, he was not 

 wholly of us, but seemed to have 

 thoughts, pursuits, and aspirations to 

 which we were strangers. His tastes 

 developed in a scientific direction, en- 

 tomology being the branch to which he 

 devoted himself. The college at that 

 time did little to encourage such pur- 

 suits, but he pursued the even tenor 

 of his way till he had made a very fine 

 collection of insects." Dr. Randall 

 studied medicine after his giaduation. 

 He was offered and accepted an appoint- 

 ment in zoology connected with the 

 Wilkes exploring expedition to the 

 South Seas ; owing 1 however to the de- 



lays which occurred before the expedi- 

 tion sailed he resigned. 



Dr. Randall's scientific papers are as 

 follows : 



1. Descriptions of new species of 

 coleopterous insects inhabiting the state 

 of Maine. Bost. journ. nat. hist., Feb. 

 1838, v. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-33. 



2. Descriptions of new species of 

 coleopterous insects inhabiting the state 

 of Massachusetts. Bost. journ. nat. 

 hist., Feb. 1S3S, v. 2, no. 1, pp. 34-52. 



(See Proc. Bost. soc. nat. hist., Jan. 

 1S75, v. 17, pp. 373"3 S 5- On the spe- 

 cies of Coleoptera described by Mr. J. 

 W. Randall, by P. S. Sprague with 

 notes by E. P. Austin.) 



3. Catalogue of the Crustacea brought 

 by Thomas Nuttall and J. K. Townsend 

 from the west coast of North America 

 and the Sandwich Islands with descrip- 

 tions of such species as are apparently 

 new, among which are included several 

 species of different localities previously 

 existing in the collection of the Acad- 

 emy. Journ. acad. nat. sci. Phil., 

 1S39, v. 8, pt. 1, pp. 106-147, pi. 3-7. 



A volume on the animals and plants of 

 Maine was prepared but not published. 



His volume of poems entitled Conso- 

 lations of Solitude, Boston, 1856, 2d 

 edition 1S57, was commended by J. H. 

 Abbott in the North American review. 



