16 Richmond, In Memoriam: Edgar A. Mearns. [j^ 



With largely increased collections — the Frick expedition having 

 added over 5000 birds to his available material — Dr. Mearns 

 again resumed his studies, intending to work up all of the African 

 series together. He had been relieved from further active duty at 

 the end of the year 1910, and felt he could at last make his plans 

 and move as he pleased. For years he had cherished the desire 

 to settle down to museum research, to work over his collections and 

 complete reports long projected. The opportunity was now at 

 hand, but, alas! not to be realized. The privations and exposure 

 of his many travels, together with the progress of his malady, 

 had so undermined his system that his vitality had reached a low 

 ebb. He continued at work for two or three years, with ever widen- 

 ing periods of inability to reach his office. Thinking to benefit 

 his condition, he made several short field trips in this period, from 

 which he returned without much improvement, and at length he 

 succumbed, in the midst of his greatest undertaking, surrounded 

 by a wealth of material that was largely the result of his own 

 industry. He passed away at the Walter Reed Army General 

 Hospital, in Washington, Nov. 1, 1916, leaving his mother, widow, 

 daughter, and a large number of friends to mourn his loss. 



Dr. Mearns was of an exceedingly generous disposition, one who 

 had no desire to retain the fruits of his labor for his own glory and 

 satisfaction, but preferred to donate them to museums where they 

 would be accessible to all for study. His earlier collections, made 

 up to 1891, went to the American Museum of Natural History, and 

 later ones were given with equal liberality to the United States 

 National Museum. Of shells, and probably other objects collected 

 in large quantity, he distributed sets to various museums, while a 

 series of human skeletons and crania from the cliff dwellings at 

 Fort Verde was sent to the Army Medical Museum. An inkling 

 of the importance of his contributions may be gathered from the 

 statement of Standley (1917), who writes "As naturalist of the 

 Mexican Boundary Survey of 1892-93 he collected or had collected 

 under his direction the largest and best representation ever obtained, 

 consisting of several thousand numbers, of the flora of that part 

 of the United States and Mexican boundary which extends from 

 El Paso, Texas, to San Diego, California. Dr. Mearns secured 

 also what is undoubtedly the largest series of plants ever obtained 



