Vol. XXX 1 EXTOMOLOGTCAL NEWS 89 



County Institute of Science at Media. He was a botanist of 

 note and author of a list of plants of Delaware County which 

 appeared in an important historical work, the History of Dela- 

 zvare County, of which he was also the author. 



Benjamin H. Smith was educated at Haverford School, af- 

 terward Haverford College, where he graduated in 1859. The 

 study of Natural History was strongly encouraged at the 

 school, the collecting of insects being then the favorite pastime, 

 and young Smith, who shared his father's interests, became in- 

 tensely interested in forming a collection of Coleoptera, a pur- 

 suit which he followed for many years afterwards whenever 

 opportunity offered. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he join- 

 ed the Anderson Troop and served under General Buell 

 throughout the campaign in Tennessee, Alabama and Miss- 

 issippi, which was later conducted by General Rosecrans, the 

 troop being attached to headquarters. 



Smith's ambition had always been to locate in the far west 

 and in 1869 he visited Denver, Colorado, returning in 1872 to 

 take a position in the Surveyor General's office in the Mining 

 Department. He had been marri.ed in 1866 to Miss Addie L. 

 Brooke, of Delaware County, and his wife followed him to 

 Colorado as soon as he had established himself and they re- 

 sided there until 1876, returning again to occupy the same posi- 

 tion from 1880 to 1887. His work took him to various parts 

 of Colorado and offered splendid opportunities for the prose- 

 cution of his natural history pursuits. He collected beetles 

 assiduously and sent back packages of plants to his father. 

 During his later residence there, botany seemed to occupy his 

 main attention and upon his return to Delaware County, in 

 1887, he devoted his leisure time almost exclusively to this 

 study. He had visited California and Oregon in 1887, and in 

 1893 and 1894 spent most of the summer in New Mexico, 

 while he engaged in many other trips to various parts of the 

 east, combining his botanical interests and his love of trout 

 fishing. He was a close friend of the late Dr. Thomas C. 

 Porter and in later years Dr. C. S. Sargeant, with whom 

 he made many trips. After his return to the east he was en- 

 gaged as an investment broker. 



