Decembes 25, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



917 



and had received the honorary degree of 

 LL.D. from Queens University. He was also 

 a member of the St. George's Society and of 

 the Rideau Club of Ottawa. Doctor Pletcher 

 threw his whole force into his scientific work. 

 He was a practical man, and was constantly 

 looking for the practical applications of both 

 zoological and botanical science. At the 

 same time he was a close observer and made 

 innumerable observations of novelty and 

 value. As a public speaker he was unexcelled, 

 and the educational value of his addresses to 

 farmers and others on timely and practical 

 topics was very great. During the time of 

 his occupancy of his official position he pub- 

 lished a valuable series of annual reports 

 which, in their bulk, constitute a com- 

 pendium of the economic botany and ento- 

 mology of Canada for the whole period. He 

 published also many shorter articles in the 

 scientific journals of both Canada and the 

 United States. 



Aside from the practical aspect of his work 

 Fletcher was of the type of the old naturalists. 

 He loved nature deeply. Asked a short time 

 ago by a friend why he did not take a holiday 

 and a rest from his incessant labor, he replied : 

 " Why should I take a holiday ? My whole 

 life is a holiday because I lov6 my work." 

 Everything living interested Fletcher. To 

 take an excursion with him was a delight. 

 His quick eye saw everything. His philo- 

 sophic mind sought at once for the why and 

 wherefore. He had no patience with the care- 

 less and unobservant. In the course of a 

 typically fascinating and eloquent lecture that 

 he delivered years ago before the National 

 Geographic Society in Washington, on the 

 Canadian Northwest, he was describing the 

 journey from Winnipeg westward on the 

 Canadian Pacific railway. He had dilated 

 upon the flower-massed prairies and the other 

 natural beauties with his hearty enthusiasm 

 and then, he said : " Suddenly the glorious 

 mountains came in sight. I could not con- 

 tain myself. I miTSt share my delight with 

 some one. I touched the man in the seat 

 ahead on the shoulder. ' See, see the moun- 

 tains ' ! I said. ' Ah ! indeed ' ! said the man ! 

 And then," said Fletcher with a fine show of 



indignation, " he went back to his trumpery 

 novel !" 



Among his many enthusiasms possibly his 

 interest in the biology of the diurnal Lepi- 

 doptera was the greatest, and he was the first 

 to work out the life history of (Eneis macounii 

 and other rare forms. His relations with that 

 master of American butterfly lore, Samuel H. 

 Scudder, were of the most intimate personal 

 kind, and his death will be a sad blow to that 

 other beautiful and strong character whose 

 life is now fading away in Cambridge. 



Probably no other Canadian naturalist was 

 so well known and so well loved by his col- 

 leagues in the states as was Doctor Fletcher. 

 Surely he will be as deeply mourned here as 

 in his own country. 



L. 0. Howard 



TEE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



The annual meeting of the board of regents 

 of the Smithsonian Institution was held at 

 10 o'clock on the morning of December 15 at 

 the institution. The chancellor, Chief Justice 

 Melville W. Fuller, presided, and the following 

 regents were present: Vice-President Charles 

 W. Fairbanks, Senator Shelby M. Cullom, 

 Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Senator Augus- 

 tus O. Bacon, Representative James R. Mann, 

 Representative William M. Howard, Dr. James 

 B. Angell, Dr. Andrew D. White, the Honor- 

 able John B. Henderson, Dr. Alexander Gra- 

 ham Bell, the Honorable Charles F. Choate, 

 Jr., and the secretary, Mr. Charles D. Walcott. 



The appointment of the Honorable Charles 

 F. Choate, Jr., of Massachusetts, as a citizen 

 regent in place of the Honorable Richard 

 Olney, resigned, was announced. 



The secretary presented his report for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, which was 

 accepted. Statements were received from the 

 permanent and executive committees. The 

 resignation of Dr. Cyrus Adler, assistant sec- 

 retary of the institution, in charge of library 

 and exchanges, was announced, and also the 

 death of Professor Otis T. Mason, head curator 

 of the department of anthropology of the Na- 

 tional Musemn. 



A statement was presented of the affairs of 

 the institution since the close of the fiscal 



