536 FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. [24] 



tion, "his series of specimens (including many fishes from the west coast) was very 

 complete, and is believed to express essentially the zoological character of an inter- 

 esting section of Mexico." In 1872, Mr. William Gabb made a natural history survey 

 of San Domingo, and from 1873 to 1875, a similar one of Costa Eica, obtaining valua- 

 ble contributions for the Smithsonian Institution. 



MUSEUMS AND SOCIETIES OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



The Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard College. — This extensive museum, 

 established in 1859 by Professor Louis Agassiz, has always exerted a most important 

 influence on scientific investigations in every department of natural history. Through 

 the liberal donations of many public-spirited men, and with occasional assistance from 

 the State of Massachusetts, it has been enabled to accomplish far greater results than 

 any other similar institution in the country. Its good work has not been limited to 

 the purchase of collections, a legitimate method of fostering scientific research in- 

 dulged in by most museums, but it has organized and pushed to completion many 

 important explorations in different parts of the world, and claims a large share of the 

 success attending the recent deep-sea dredging and trawling operations of the United 

 States Coast Survey. Not least among its good offices has been the careful training 

 of naturalists, and a considerable proportion of those who now stand prominent in the 

 department of marine research received their first practical instructions from the late 

 Professor Agassiz. The policy of the museum has ever been most liberal, and lavish 

 sums of money have been expended wherever the prospects of good results would war- 

 rant it. Notwithstanding the fact that no i department of zoology has been neglected, 

 investigations regarding recent aquatic life have successfully competed for a lion's 

 share of patronage, and the published results of the museum in this line are extremely 

 flattering. Professor Louis Agassiz died in the winter of 1873-'74 and was succeed* d 

 in the directorship of the museum by his son, Professor Alexander Agassiz. 



When the museum was first organized, the mariue fauna of the New England coast 

 was but imperfectly known, and Professor Agassiz and the museum assistants and 

 students of marine zoology spent much of their time during the summer months in 

 making collections and observations along the sea- coast. Similar operations were 

 extended to the interior lakes and rivers, to the west coast of North America, and to 

 foreign countries. The summer home of Professor Agassiz was at Nahant, Massachu- 

 setts, where he enjoyed superior advantages for the study of marine life, and espe- 

 cially of the Medusae. His observations at this place were continued from year to year 

 during his life, and afforded abundant results for publication. Before the establish- 

 ment of the museum, however, Professor Agassiz had commenced his researches on the 

 Atlantic coast. The summer of 1847 was spent on Nantucket Shoals, in connection 

 with the surveys under Captain Davis, U. S. N., Mr. Desor also participating in the 

 dredgiug work. Later, Professor Agassiz visited Charleston, S. C, and the coast of 

 Florida, where he made large collections during a period of three or four years. 

 Doctor G. Wurdemann and Mr. James E. Mills also collected extensively for Professor 

 Agassiz at the latter place, and Dr. Weinland, on the coast of Cuba. 



In 1859, Mr. A. E. Verrill began his explorations of the New England coast, which 

 were carried on in connection with the museum until 1864, when he joined the faculty 

 of Yale College. The summer of 1859 was spent atEastport, Maine, and that of 1860 

 at Mount Desert, in company with A. Hyatt and N. S. Shaler. The same year, Mr. 

 Alexander Agassiz, then attached to the U. S. Coast Survey, and Mr. T. G. Carey com- 

 menced their series of collectings on the West Coast of North America., which were 

 continued for several years. Mr. Carey's contributions were mainly from the vicinity 

 of San Francisco, but those of Mr. Agassiz were obtained at numerous places between 

 the Gulf of Georgia and Mexico. Mr. Alpheus Hyatt, in 1860, made extensive col- 

 lections of fresh-water inollusks and other invertebrates from the rivers of Kentucky, 

 mainly for the purpose of identifying the species of Unionidce, previously described 

 from that region by Rafinesque. Mr. W. H. A. Putnam, captain of one of the large 



