OUtmry—J. B. Hatcher. 569' 



Hatcliei' succeeded in discovering a large number of skulls and 

 skeletons they were at best represented by a few fragments, the 

 nature of which was hardly understood even by the most advanced 

 students. At the time of his lamented death Professor Marsh was 

 engaged in preparing a monograph upon this material, and it fell 

 to his distinguished student, who had discovered these colossal 

 creatures, to take up in 1902 the work which Marsh had left 

 unfinished, and he was devoting himself to this work at the time 

 of his death. 



In 1890 Mr. Hatcher was made Assistant to the Chair of Geology 

 in Yale University, and in 1893 he was elected Curator of Vertebrate 

 Palaeontology and Assistant to the Chair of Geology in the College 

 of New Jersey at Princeton. 



While at Princeton he continued his geological and palaaontological 

 explorations in the Western States with his usual enthusiasm and 

 success. For man}' years he had cherished the wish to undertake 

 the exploration of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego from a geo- 

 logical and palEeontological standpoint. He finally undertook the 

 collection of a fund to enable him to carry out this object. 

 Generous subscriptions were made by a number of the alumni and 

 friends of Princeton University, and he himself out of his small 

 savings contributed a large portion of what proved to be required 

 to undertake the work. His plans were thoroughly approved and 

 enthusiastically supported by Professor W. B. Scott, the Professor 

 of Geology in Princeton. Three expeditions were made. The 

 first extended from March 1st, 1896, to July 16th, 1897. On 

 this expedition Mr. Hatcher was accompanied by his brother- 

 in-law, Mr. 0. A. Peterson, as an assistant. The second expedition 

 extended from November 7th, 1897, to November 9th, 1898, 

 when he was accompanied by Mr. A. E. Colburn as taxidermist. 

 The third expedition was carried on from December 9Lh, 1898, 

 to September 1st, 1899, when Mr. 0. A. Peterson again accom- 

 panied Mr. Hatcher. The story of these expeditions has been 

 published in the first volume of the Reports of the Princeton 

 University Expeditions to Patagonia, which are being issued under 

 the editorial supervision of Professor William B. Scott upon the 

 J. Pierpont Morgan Publication Fund of Princeton University, the 

 fund having been generously given by Mr. Morgan in order that the 

 scientific information secured by Mr. Hatcher might be made known 

 to the world. In the conduct of these expeditions J. B. Hatcher 

 strikingly revealed not only his great scientific insight, but his 

 undaunted courage and great tenacity of purpose. Twice he nearly 

 lost his life, once as the result of a singular accident which 

 befell him while taking a lonely road across the pampas, once while 

 confined to his tent amidst the deep snows of winter by a violent 

 attack of inflammatory rheumatism, from the ill effects of which 

 he never quite recovered. 



The results of Hatcher's explorations in Patagonia were of the 

 most important character. The collections of vertebrate fossils 

 made by him and his assistants, and now preserved at Princeton 



