784 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 40. 



During 1849 he made several visits to the 

 Lake-Superior region, once in companj- with 

 Professor Agassiz, collecting largely, and pub- 

 lishing the results in Agassiz' work on that 

 region. lu the autumn of 1850 he visited 

 California, remaining the greater portion of 

 the following year, stopping for a while at 

 Pai%ma, collecting largely in many depart- 

 ments of natural history in a region in which 

 nearlj' everj- thing was new to science, extend- 

 ing his explorations through the Colorado des- 

 ert and as far east as the Pima villages. The 

 material collected in these regions was care- 

 fully studied on his return, and the results pub- 

 lished in the annals of the New-York lyceum. 

 In 1852 the LeContes removed to Philadelphia, 

 where the greater portion of the scientific labors 

 of both have since been published. For a few 

 months in 1857 LeConte accompanied the Hon- 

 duras interoceanic survey', under the late J. C. 

 Trautwine, publishing his observations in the 

 report of that expedition. He visited at the 

 same time the Fuehte de Sangre, contributing 

 an account of that phenomenon iu Squier's 

 'Nicaragua.' 



After these voyages, LeConte's scientific 

 labor was uninterrupted until the breaking-out 

 of the war. In 1862 he was appointed surgeon 

 of volunteers, and shortly after made medical 

 Inspector with the rank of lieutenant-colonel ; 

 in which position he remained until 1865, ex- 

 hibiting a capacity for organization and direc- 

 tion in a wider field than the cabinet to which 

 he had hitherto confined himself. 



During the summer of 1867 he acted as 

 geologist of the survey for the extension of" 

 the Union Pacific railway southward to Fort 

 Craig, under the command of Gen. W. W. 

 Wright. His report, which in no way de- 

 tracts from his reputation as an entomologist, 

 was published as part of the report of the sur- 

 vey. 



In the autumn of 1869 he started for Eu- 

 rope with his familj', remaining abroad until 

 near the close of 1872, visiting, in the mean 

 time, Algiers and Egypt. His residence abroad 

 interrupted somewhat his authorship, but not 

 his studies. He visited all the accessible pub- 



lic and private museums ; and his wonderful 

 memory of the species of his own cabinet en- 

 abled him to settle many douljtful i)oints of 

 synonymy. Those who met him abroad were 

 deeply impressed by his thorough scholarship, 

 and his quick and accurate perception of the 

 affinities of Coleoptera which he had never 

 before seen. On his return he resumed his 

 labors, which continued, with slight interrup- 

 tions b}^ ill health, until withiu a week of his 

 death. 



LeConte's career in science began in 1844 

 with his first paper in the proceedings of the 

 Philadelphia academy, followed by others in 

 other journals : these gave but little evidence 

 of the future powers of the man, until, in 1850, 

 his ' Monograph of Pselaphidae ' appeared, in 

 which an arrangement of these minute forms 

 was proposed which remains at present the basis 

 of the general classification of these insects. 

 Shortly after appeared his ' Attempt to classify 

 the longicoru Coleoptera of America, north of 

 Mexico,' — a work of far wider application than 

 indicated by its title, iu which numerous sug- 

 gestions of new characters and wider applica- 

 tions of old ones are found. 



To follow his papers from this period would 

 be a historj' of scientific coleopterolog3' in 

 America. Their importance and utility' at- 

 tracted attention abroad, and many were re- 

 printed in whole or in part. As to their 

 scope, the}' cover nearl}' every family in the 

 order : and in every case his work is an im- 

 provement on what preceded it ; he always left 

 a subject better than he found it. 



Several of his works require a special notice. 

 His edition of the entomological writings of 

 Saj', in which he was assisted in their depart- 

 ments by Baron Osten-Sackeu and Mr. P. R. 

 Uhler, proved of inestimable value to students 

 by placing within easj- access the works of that 

 pioneer of American science. The volumes 

 appeared in 1859, have run through several 

 editions, and are still in demand. Realizing 

 that his favorite branch needed greater encour- 

 agement, he undertook, in 1860, the ' Classifi- 

 cation of the Coleoptera of North America,' 

 with the accompanying list of species, and de- 



