268 Notes and News. 



f Auk 

 LApril 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Louis di Zerega Mearns, formerly an Associate of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, died of diphtheria at the Sydenham Hospital, 

 Baltimore, Maryland, April 3, 1912. He was bom at Fort Verde, in cen- 

 tral Arizona, November 5, 1886. He was graduated from the Rensselaer 

 Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, New York, in the class of 1909, with the 

 degree of C. E. After graduating from the Institute he spent a year and a 

 half at the Dudley Southern Observatory, at San Luis, Argentine Re- 

 public, and after his return from South America, he was employed for some 

 time in the observatory at Albany, New York. Shortly before his death 

 he accepted a position with the Baltimore Sewerage Commission. 



Throughout his life he was deeply interested in nature studies and was 

 especially devoted to biology. His observations were recorded with 

 fidelity and clearness. In the field he was a delightful companion, an 

 accurate and quick shot with shotgun or rifle, and a clever and successful 

 mammal trapper. He began a collection of plants when four years old, 

 and collected his first mammal at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, May 18, 1891, 

 sending the latter to Dr. J. A. Allen, who acknowledged the little white- 

 footed wood-mouse as coming from the youngest contributor to the mam- 

 mal collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Mr. Mearns's 

 specimens were of excellent quality, carefully recorded, with detailed 

 measurements. For many years his collection was stored in the United 

 States National Museum, at Washington; but, about a year before his 

 death, it was donated to the museum, to which it forms a valuable addition. 



Although much interested in the study of botany, the few published 

 writings that he has left relate solely to mammals and birds. Following 

 is a complete list of his biological publications : 



1. On the Occurrence of the genus Reithrodontomys in Virginia. The 

 American Naturalist, vol. 31, February 1, 1897, p. 161. 



2. Notes from Newport. Notes on Rhode Island Ornithology, vol. 1, 

 No. 3, July, 1900, pp. 13-15. 



3. Spring Arrival and Departure Notes, 1900. Notes on Rhode Island 

 Ornithology, vol. I, No. 3, July, 1900, p. 18. 



4. Birds observed at Chepachet, R. I. Notes on Rhode Island Orni- 

 thology, vol. I, No. 4, October, 1900, pp. 21, 22. 



5. Notes from Newport, R. I. Notes on Rhode Island Ornithology, 

 vol. I, No. 4, October, 1900, p. 22. 



6. Arrival and Departure Notes, 1900. Notes on Rhode Island Orni- 

 thology, vol. I, No. 4, October, 1900, p. 22. 



7. Arrival and Departure Notes, 1900. Notes on Rhode Island Orni- 

 thology, vol. II, No. 1, January, 1901, p. 8. 



8. Birds Observed on Prudence Island, Narragansett Bay, Rhode 

 Island. Notes on Rhode Island Ornithology, vol. II, No. 4, October, 

 1901, pp. 18-19. 



