62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Woodward & Hill, of which firm he remained an active member 

 up to the time of his death. 



On April 9th, 1855, he married Miss Jane Woodward of Albany 

 who survives him. He also leaves surviving him three sons and 

 one daughter. J\lr Hill had a common school education ; but con- 

 tinued his studies after entering business and was an exceedingly 

 well informed mail and agreeable companion. Always fond of 

 outdoor life and an admirer of nature, he was an ardent fisherman 

 and of late years spent a part of each summer in the North Woods 

 or in the Adirondacks^ — combining this sport with his study of 

 nature. 



For many years he was more especially interested in botany and 

 made large collections of plants. In 1875 he became more especially 

 interested in insects, and collected persistently, carefully and sys- 

 tematically — with what success all Lepidopterists. know. Though 

 more particularly a Lepidopterist he collected also in other orders, 

 to obtain a representation of local species. With Messrs Bailey, 

 Lintner and Meske he made excursions in the vicinity of Albany 

 and finally Centre [now Karner"] was hit upon, as an extraordi- 

 narily productive locality and here collecting was carried on with 

 such vim and persistency that the place became known as " Butter- 

 fly station." Enormcus quantities of " sugar " were prepared and 

 used, and thousands of moths paid the penalty. During his visits 

 to the Adirondacks Mr Hill not only sugared persistently, but every 

 available room was lit up and windows were left open to attract 

 the unwary night flyers. In an unexplored field like the Adiron- 

 cacks the result was most gratifying, and many previously unknown 

 forms were discovered — the types of which are all in his collection. 

 With such a cjuantity of material, exchanging was very productive 

 and the collection rapidly increased. It was his boast that he never 

 bought an insect, •j^et the collection contains rarities from all 

 sources, the products of exchanges. He was extremely systematic 

 in the arrangement and care of his collection, every species bear- 

 ii:g a number — or rather two numbers — one sex an even, the 

 other an odd number. Every species was registered, and the 

 duplicates were all noted, so that it was only necessary to refer 

 to the proper book and the exact number of specimens on hand 

 was at once apparent. In addition to this he was very careful 

 i-i labeling his insects, every specimen containing the exact locality, 

 date of capture and whether at light or at sugar. The collection 

 is therefore valuable, not only -as an accumulation of material, 

 but as an accumulation of facts, of great value in fixing dates, 

 distribution and number of broods. The work required for all 

 this w^as of course enormous, and can be appreciated only by those 

 who have attempted anything similar. 



Mr Hill was not a describer, his only contributions to the litera- 

 ture l)eing in the line of faunal lists in which dates and localities 

 were carefully noted ; but though not a writer, he was a careful 



