158 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, '18 



and undoubtedly the most comprehensive, in the United States 

 is largely due to the untiring efforts of Mr. Plart, while the 

 arrangement and classification are almost entirely his. 



The handicap of a lack of an entomological course such as 

 is now possible to students was to a verv' large extent over- 

 come by studious application to the work of classification, and 

 an exceptional natural aptitude. Always a keen and observant 

 field collector, the opening of the biological station on the 

 Illinois River, at Havana, in 1894, provided him with an ex- 

 ceptional opportunity to indulge in research into the life-his- 

 tories of aquatic insects, and as a part result of this work he 

 published his paper on the Entomologv of the Illinois River 

 in 1895. This paper is a model for work of this nature, con- 

 taining as it does, besides many statistical and systematic data, 

 many observations on the life-histories of the forms dealt with 

 which, are presented in a readable and interesting manner. In 

 addition to this paper Mr. Hart drew up manuscript keys to 

 various orders of insects in their different stages, and to mol- 

 lusca. for use in the summer school at Havana. Apart alto- 

 gether from the knack of assembling in orderly array and uni- 

 formly labeling the multitude of preserved specimens in the 

 laboratory, which Mr. Hart possessed to a marked degree, he 

 at all times bore in mind the biologic and economic habits and 

 characteristics of these forms, something that is becoming 

 undeniablv rarer in these days of specialization. 



The paucit}' of Mr. Hart's publications is not to be accepted 

 as a criterion of his knowledge of entomology, nor as an in- 

 dication of inability to handle such undertakings, as his 

 knowledge, in my opinion, was both ample and varied, and his 

 published works show his ability to lucidly express himself, 

 but rather denotes, at least to those who knew him, the degree 

 of self-repression which he exercised in order that his ap- 

 pointed task, the arrangement of our collections, should be 

 accomplished. At the time of his death this task was still 

 incomplete, being interrupted in the Orthoptera, but he left 

 things in such condition that it will be possible to take up the 

 work where it was left unfinished. 



