LIFE AND WORKS OF COrE. XI 



As early as December, 1861, Cope made what was called 

 a verbal communication to the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia, in which he noticed several Cyprinoid 

 fishes, two of which he regarded as new, but which were 

 really identical with forms that had been previously de- 

 scribed in an imperfect manner. In his early papers (1864) 

 he appears as an enthusiastic systematist, studj'ing especi- 

 ally the living forms of Teleosts, making careful diagnoses 

 of all types that came into his hands, critically considering 

 the problems of distribution, never casting aside those types 

 whose especial difficulties had been the stumbling block of 

 earlier writers. Thus he studied successively the fishes of 

 Michigan (1864-65), of Virginia (1868), of the Lesser An- 

 tilles (1870), again the fishes of South Carolina (1871), of 

 Alaska (1872), of Montana, those from South America col- 

 lected by Professor Orton (1872-78), those from the terri- 

 tories collected by the Wheeler Survey, and even not infre- 

 quently new forms from Africa and the East Indies. 



Almost from the first Cope ventured upon ground which 

 had been trodden only by the greatest comparative anato- 

 mists and ichthyologists, such as Cuvier, Agassiz, Owen, 

 and Giinther, and set aside the superficial characters which 

 had been employed in the classification of the fishes. He 

 seems to have been moved by an instinct to seize upon the 

 less conspicuous structures which were none the less of 

 fundamental importance, and to disregard the more con- 

 spicuous features, such as the scales, which had formed the 

 chief guide of his predecessors, especially of Agassiz. 



A fortunate step in his career was his purchase, while 

 abroad, of Professor Hyrtl's private collection of fish skele- 

 tons, which gave him nearly a thousand admirable osteol- 

 ogical preparations for immediate study. 



A brief glance at history suffices to make, clear at what 

 juncture Cope entered this field of science. The term Gan- 

 oiDBS had been originally introduced into zoology by Agas- 



