A CENTURY OF ZOOLOGY IN AMERICA 399 



forming well-known corals. They remain as the most 

 conspicuous monuments in American invertebrate zool- 

 ogy. Unfortunately the very limited edition makes them 

 accessible in only a few large libraries. The other, 

 equally magnificent, volumes include: Mollusca and 

 Shells, by A. A. Gould, 1856; Herpetology, by Charles 

 Girard, 1858; Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John 

 Cassin, 1858. 



Principal investigators. Of the many writers on ani- 

 mals at this period of descriptive natural history, the fol- 

 lowing were prominent in their special fields of study : 



Ayres, Lesueur, Mitchill, Storer, Linsley, Wyman, 

 DeKay, Smith, Kirtland, Rafinesque and Haldeman 

 described the fishes. 



Green, Barton, Harlan, Le Conte, Say, and especially 

 Holbrook, studied the reptiles and amphibia. Holbrook's 

 great monograph of the reptiles (North American Her- 

 petology) was published between 1834 and 1845. 



Wilson, Audubon, Nuttall, Cooper, DeKay, Brewer, 

 Ord, Baird, Gould, Bachman, Linsley and Fox were 

 among the numerous writers on birds. 



Godman, Ord, Richardson, Audubon, Bachman, De- 

 Kay, Linsley and Harlan published accounts of mam- 

 mals. 



On the invertebrates an important general work enti- 

 tled "Invertebrata of Massachusetts; Mollusca, Crus- 

 tacea, Annelida and Radiata" was published by A. A. 

 Gould in 1841, which contains all the New England 

 species of these groups known to that date. 



Lea, Totten, Adams, Barnes, Gould, Binney, Conrad, 

 Hildreth, Haldeman, were the principal writers on mol- 

 lusks. The Crustacea were studied by Say, Gould, Halde- 

 man, Dana; the insects by Say, Melsheimer, Peck, 

 Harris, Kirby, Herrick ; the spiders by Hentz ; the worms 

 by Lee ; the coelenterates and echinoderms by Say, Man- 

 tell and others. 



' The history of entomology in the United States pre- 

 vious to 1846 is given by John G. Morris in the Journal 

 XI 17, 1846). In this article F. V. Melsheimer is stated 

 to be the father of American Entomology, while Say was 

 the most prolific writer. Say's entomological papers, 

 edited by J. L. Le Conte, were completely reprinted with 



