EDGAR ALEXANDER MEARNS — RICHMOND. 655 



Island, which he visited to carry his investigations to their logical 

 terminus. The work was continued up to September, 1894, except 

 for an interval of a few months in the preceding year, when his time 

 was divided between Forts Hancock and Clark, in Texas. During 

 his work on the boundary line he had the services of one assistant 

 for a considerable part of the time, as well as the voluntary aid of 

 his associates on the survey. As a result of their combined industry 

 about 30,000 specimens were collected and transmitted to the United 

 States National Museum. The collections had been carefully made, 

 to illustrate changes in the animals and plants in the various faunal 

 areas through which the expedition passed, with the view of throw- 

 ing some light on subspecific variation in them. 



At the close of the Mexican boundary work, Doctor Mearns was 

 ordered to duty at Fort Myer, Virginia, with permission to study 

 his collections at the National Museum. In the time at his disposal 

 he made considerable progress in identifying the mammals, and in 

 discriminating the several life zones of the boundary line. In addi- 

 tion to the faunal zones currently recognized he suggested several 

 lesser geographical areas, which he termed " differentiation tracts." 

 He had planned an elaborate report on the biology, geology, etc., 

 based on the boundary collections, and had accumulated a vast 

 amount of data and manuscript for this purpose, but Congress 

 withheld the sum estimated to cover the cost of printing and illus- 

 trations, and the project was reluctantly given up. The first part 

 of his report on the mammals, the only one thus far published, was 

 issued in 1907, 1 and contains upward of 500 pages, with many 

 plates and text figures. It includes much introductory matter of a 

 general nature, with an itinerary of the expedition, an account of 

 the life areas, lists of the trees, etc., of the Mexican border, and is 

 an excellent example of the careful and detailed methods of its 

 author. 



In the autumn of 1896, he devoted his vacation to field work in 

 the Catskills, and to rambles in the vicinity of his old home. A 

 paper entitled "Notes on the Mammals of the Catskill Mountains, 

 New York, with general remarks on the Fauna and Flora of the 

 Region," 2 was based on investigations made at this time. 



After a few months' duty at Fort Clark, Texas, in 1897-1898, he was 

 commissioned brigade surgeon (later chief surgeon)- of Volunteers, 

 with the rank of major, in the Spanish- American War, serving 

 until March 22, 1899, when he was honorably discharged and re- 

 sumed his regular duties. His next station was Fort Adams, Rhode 

 Island, where he served during parts of 1899-1900. While there 

 he joined the Newport Natural History Society, and took an active 



1 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 56, Pt. 1, 1907. 



s Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXI, 1898, 341-360, figs. 1-6. 



