482 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1273 



ment from the Emperor, Dom Pedro II., who 

 ■was deeply interested in scientific research. 

 During these years he traveled extensively and 

 spent a long time in exploring the then little 

 known territory along the upper waters of the 

 Eio Paraguay and the Rio Guapore on the 

 western confines of Brazil, in the vicinity of 

 Matto G-rosso and Chapada. The extensive 

 series of specimens which he gathered during 

 these years of fruitful collecting were acquired 

 partly by the IsTational Museum in Eio de 

 Janeiro, partly by Mr. D. F. Godman of 

 London, and partly by the writer of these lines, 

 who subsequently purchased most of the lepi- 

 doptera, and, at a later date by the Carnegie 

 Museum, which secured most of the vast col- 

 lection of insects which Mr. Smith had made, 

 numbering approximately thirty thousand si)e- 

 cies and not far from two hundred thousand 

 specimens. 



In 1886 there appeared in Portuguese from 

 his pen an account of some of his travels, 

 entitled " De Eio de Janeiro a Cuyaba." Mr. 

 P. D. Godman, whose monumental work, the 

 " Biologia Gentrali- Americana," called for an 

 intensive study of the fauna of Mexico, com- 

 missioned Mr. Smith to make collections for 

 him in that country, and he labored there 

 during the year 1889. He spent much of his 

 time in the years 1890-1895 in the employ- 

 ment of the West Indian Commission of the 

 Eoyal Society in making collections in Trini- 

 dad and the Windward Islands, and in report- 

 ing upon the same. These collections are in 

 the British Museum. During the same years 

 he was actively engaged as one of the stafi 

 of writers employed in the preparation of the 

 " Century Dictionary," the " Century Cyclo- 

 pedia of ISTames," and " Johnson's Cyclopedia." 

 In these works almost everything relating to 

 South and Central America and the faima 

 and flora of these lands is from his pen. 



When plans were being formed for the de- 

 velopment of the Carnegie Museum, Mr. Smith 

 took occasion, not only in letters but by per- 

 sonal visits to the writer, to urge the desir- 

 ability of selecting as one of the major objects 

 of the new institution, a biological survey of 

 South America. While it was not at that 



time possible to fully accept his proposals, 

 one of the results of his visits to Pittsburgh, 

 was his employment by the infant museum to 

 act in a curatorial capacity, devoting himself 

 to the formation of collections illustrating the 

 natural resources of the region of which Pitts- 

 burgh is the metropolis. Assisted by his wife 

 and various volunteers he made extensive col- 

 lections representing the flora and fauna of 

 western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 

 These collections number many tens of thou- 

 sands of insects, shells, and plants, as well as 

 fishes, reptiles, birds, and small mammalia, 

 When not in the field, he devoted his time to 

 the arrangement of collections which began 

 to rapidly come into the possession of the 

 museum. 



He was not, however, entirely happy in the 

 confinement of the walls of a musemn. He 

 constantly heard "the call of the wild," and 

 his heart longed for the life of the tropics, 

 in which he had passed so many happy years. 

 He proposed to the authorities of the Carnegie 

 Museum that he should be allowed to go to 

 the United States of Colombia to make col- 

 lections. The writer agreed himself to become 

 the purchaser of the collections of lepidoptera 

 which might be made, the Carnegie Museum 

 agreed to purchase the birds, a set of the 

 mammals, the ethnological material which 

 might be gathered, and to take one or more 

 sets of the botanical specimens collected. Ac- 

 companied by his wife and yoimg son he set 

 out for Colombia to begin his work in the 

 Province of Santa Marta. One of the chronic 

 revolutions of that period develo]!ed and he 

 encountered much difficulty. The period from 

 the fall of 1898 to the spring of 1902 was 

 spent in this work. It was a period of trial 

 and hardship. Mr. Smith finally fell ill and 

 it was feared that he would not recover. 

 When at last he was pronounced to be out of 

 danger the party hastened to return to the 

 United States and thenceforth all thought of 

 further investigations in the tropics was 

 abandoned. The collections made in the face 

 of hardship and disease were nevertheless large 

 and valuable and contained many species 

 wholly new to science. 



