REPORT OF THE STATE PALEONTOLOGIST 1901 459 



This interest in natural history expressed itself in other ways 

 and in much more serious and substantial manner in his pub- 

 lished demonstrations of the anatomy of the fresh-water clam 

 {Anatomy and physiology of Anodonta fluviatilis, 35th rep't N. Y. 

 state mus. 1884. p. 169-91, pi. 1-11) and in a beautiful and still 

 more elaborate memoir on the anatomy of the snails {An<itomy and 

 physiology of Polygyra alholahris and Limax maximus and embry- 

 ology of Limax maximms,'^, Y. state mus. bul. 40) which he did not 

 live to see in published form, but of which almost his last con- 

 scious act was to read the proof sheets. One naturally turns first 

 to the illustrations of these papers; and it is worthy of remark 

 that the drawings of this memoir on the snails are the most 

 highly finished that ever came from its author's hands. They 

 were marvels of handiwork and have elicited unstinted praise 

 from expert students of the Mollusca. They have proved, how- 

 •ever, beyond the capacity of the printers to reproduce and have 

 hence lost much of their beauty. These works demonstrated 

 Mr Simpson's natural taste for scientific investigation. 



In the execution of the various volumes on the Paleontology 

 of New York, Prof. Hall planned one on the Bryozoa, a group of 

 lowly molluscoid organisms which abounded in profusion in the 

 old faunas of New York. The drawing of these organisms re- 

 •quired great skill and much study, and it naturally followed 

 that the draftsman acquired a close familiarity with this multi- 

 tude of specific forms, their variations and mutual relatione. 

 He became in fact more familiar with them than any one else 

 'Could become without long and laborious study; and as a con- 

 sequence Mr Simpson was the virtual author of vol. 6 of the 

 Paleontology of Netv York, which was almost exclusively con- 

 cerned with these organisms, and not only of this but of all the 

 ■descriptive matter pertaining to these fossils published during 

 the decade from 1880 to 1890. One outcome of this work was 

 the Handbook of North American Paleozoic Bryozoa, published by 

 Mr Simpson, the usefulness of which to many students can not 

 be gainsaid. All these publications on the Bryozoa were sub- 

 stantial contributions to the paleontology of the ancient rocks, 



