Vol. XXXVl 



1918 



Richmond, In Memoriam: Edgar A. Mearns. 11 



tine Association," a society organized on July 27, 1903, and having 

 as its chief object the promotion of scientific effort in the Philippine 

 Islands. It was begun under the presidency of Major-General 

 Leonard Wood, a broad-minded officer, who encouraged every form 

 of scientific endeavor. Mearns was a most active member of this 

 league from its inception, and his quiet but effective powers of 

 persuasion, and his ability to enthuse others were the means of 

 securing much material and information for later study. During 

 the year covered by his first visit, he served as surgeon in the mili- 

 tary department of Mindanao, where his time was fully occupied, 

 so much so, that it was often necessary for him to work far into the 

 night to preserve specimens brought in to him during the day. In 

 his official capacity he accompanied eight punitive expeditions 

 against hostile Moros, but even under these circumstances his col- 

 lections continued to grow, through the cooperation of his associates. 

 Ethnological material, such as bolos and other native implements 

 and weapons, together with various editions of the Koran, were 

 secured on these forays and utilized as specimens. He accom- 

 panied General Wood on three trips of inspection to various islands, 

 some of them zoologically unknown and rarely visited, and during 

 parts of June and July, 1904, he ascended Mount Apo, the highest 

 peak in the Philippines, where he made general collections and 

 secured much information of value. In the exploration of Mount 

 Apo he was anticipated by two English collectors, who had made 

 collections there hardly a year before. 



Hard work, combined with exposure in a tropical climate, had 

 its effect, and in September, 1904, he was sent to the Army General 

 Hospital at San Francisco, suffering from a complication of tropical 

 parasitic disorders. He visited Washington after he had partially 

 recovered his health, and took advantage of the opportunity to 

 study some of his Philippine material, and in a series of five papers 

 issued in the early part of 1905, he described six new genera and 

 twenty-five new species of mammals, a new genus and nineteen 

 new species of birds, besides recording eight species of birds not 

 previously known from the Islands, with notes on other of the rarer 

 forms. Other new types embraced in his collections were made 

 known by experts in several branches of zoology. 



On July 20, 1905,* Mearns stopped at Guam, on his way back 



