40 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVIII. N . 44 



Pressed by the necessity to obtain the requisite animal forms 

 w herewith to illustrate his many and voluminous works, Professor 

 Parker became a patient and indefatigable collector of morpho- 

 logical material, and at the time of his death his private cabmets 

 stood among the largest and best in existence. As will be seen 

 from what his distinguished son says, that collection is soon to be 

 placed upon the open market for disposal. From my own personal 

 knowledge, gained through a correspondence with its collector ex- 

 tending over a number of years, I can state that it simply repre- 

 sents a perfect mine of anatomical wealth, abounding in alcoholics 

 of the rarest of vertebrate forms, in carefully worked out skele- 

 tons of all the classes of the animal kingdom possessed of a bony 

 skeleton, in unique types, and in a rich mass of illustrative mate- 

 rial for the Invertebrata. Fortunate indeed will that institution 

 be that can secure by purchase this great treasure, and I feel siu'e 

 that American science is with me in the devout hope that it may 

 as a whole be obtained by this country. More than a generation 

 will surely pass by before such another opportunity will be offered 

 our museums to so enrich their collections in departments of such 

 paramount importance, — and yet it needs but a word from some 

 one among the wealthy, or the timely action of our own govern- 

 ment, to have all this conveyed to our shores. Think for an in- 

 stant how the Inpouring of tliat material would swell and fill the 

 gaps in the collections of the United States National Museum. 

 What a living repository of reference would be there for the stu- 

 dents in science for ages to come. Let it be hoped that the bare 



suggestion of the above facts is sufficient for our prompt action to 

 secure for ourselves such a rare treasure as Professor Parker's col- 

 lection. Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Takoma, D.C., July 7. 



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