178 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
His last work is still the most comprehensive illustrated volume des- 
eriptive of the fishes of Massachusetts alone. 
David Humphreys Storer was born in Portland, Me., March 26, 
1804; attended Bowdoin College and was graduated there in 1822; 
then studied medicine, and was graduated from the medical depart- 
ment of Harvard College in 1825. Immediately afterwards he estab- 
lished himself in Boston as a general practitioner of medicine. In 
1829 he married Abby Jane Brewer, a sister of Dr. Thomas Brewer, 
later known as a distinguished ornithologist. ‘* In 1837 he cooperated 
with Jacob Bigelow, Edward Reynolds, and Oliver Wendell Holmes in 
founding the Tremont Street Medical School. He became interested 
in natural history, was one of the founders of the Boston Society of 
Natural History,” ‘‘ had the honor of lecturing to the society two suc- 
ceeding seasons, 1831-32,” on conchology, and in 1838 was elected 
curator of the herpetological and ichthyological collections. He was 
also ‘* commissioned” in 1837 as one of the commissioners to report 
on the zoology and botany of Massachusetts under an act of the legis- 
lature ‘‘approved 12th April, 1837,” and reported in 1839 on the 
herpetology as well as ichthyology of the state. 
In 1854 he was called to the professorship of obstetrics and medical 
jurisprudence in the medical school of Harvard; in 1859 became also 
the dean, and held both appointments till 1868. Meanwhile, from 
1849 till 1858, he was physician to the Massachusetts General Hospital. 
In 1866 he served as president of the American Medical Association. 
He was honored by Bowdoin College in 1876 with the degree of LL.D. 
In 1883 he retired almost entirely from practice and spent the remain- 
ing years of his life in the enjoyment of well-merited leisure. He 
died in Boston in 1891. 
Storer’s principal works relative to the sano under consideration 
are ‘*A Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts ,” published in the Bos- 
ton Journal of Natural History, in 18394; ‘‘A Synopsis o = Fishes of 
aThe Report was pubuened : in the following forms: 
(1) A Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts. By D. Humphreys Storer, M.D. <Boston Journal 
of Natural History, Vol. II, 1839, pp. 289-558, pl. VI-v1I1. 
Descriptions are given of 107 nominal species, 91 of which are sali or brackish water, and 16 fresh 
water; in the concluding remarks, 9 additional undeterminate species are indicated as probable 
inhabitants of the Massachusetts waters. 
(2) Supplement to the Ichthyological Report. <Ib., Vol. III, 1841, pp. 267-273. 
(8) Additional Descriptions of, and Observations on, the Fishes of Massachusetts. 1842. <Ib., IY., 
1844, pp. 175-190. 
A second supplement to the report. 
(4) Reports on the Ichthyology and Herpetology of Massachusetts. By D. Humphreys Storer, M. D. 
<Reports on the fishes, reptiles, and birds of Massachusetts. Published agreeably to an order of the 
legislature, by the commissioners on the zoological and botanical survey of the State. Boston: Dutton 
& Wentworth, State Printers. 1839. [8vo, xii pp.4-21.+426pp.,4pl.] Pp. 1-253, with half-title—Fishes 
of Massachusetts—pp. 1-202, pl. 1-3. 
The Report on the Fishes is the same as that published in the Boston Journal of Natural History, but 
(1) an entirely different introduction is added, (2) the supplementary observations on Carcharias 
obscurus (B. J., III, 558) are omitted, and (3) supplementary observations are added (pp. 405-409) on 
several species. 
The plates are evidently printed from the same lithographic stenes, 
