Coe — A Century of Zoology in America. 357 



Zoologique" had then aroused a new interest in classi- 

 fication and comparative anatomy from an evolutionary 

 standpoint. E. Geoff roy St.-Hilaire was at the same 

 time supporting an evolutionary theory based on embry- 

 onic influences resulting in sudden modifications of adult 

 structure. These epoch-making discoveries and theories 

 gained a considerable following in France, Germany and 

 England, but seem to have had little influence on the 

 zoological work of the following half century in America. 



The science of zoology as understood to-day is com- 

 monly said to have been founded by Linnaeus by the 

 publication of the modern system of classification in the 

 tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae" in 1758. The 

 influence of Linnaeus aroused an interest in biological 

 studies throughout Europe and stimulated new investi- 

 gations in all groups of organisms. Such studies as 

 related to animals naturally followed first the classifica- 

 tion and relationship of species, that is, systematic 

 zoology, and then led gradually into the development of 

 the different branches of the subject, as morphology, 

 comparative anatomy, physiology, and embryology, 

 which eventually were recognized as almost independent 

 sciences. 



Of these sciences systematic zoology, which has come 

 to mean the classification, structure, relationship, distri- 

 bution and habits, or natural history, is the pioneer in any 

 region. Thus we find in our new country at the time of 

 the founding of this Journal in 1818, only sixty years 

 after the publication of Linnaeus' great work, the begin- 

 ning of American zoology taking the form of the collec- 

 tion and description of our native animals. 



It is true that many of our more conspicuous and easily 

 collected animals were described long before the opening 

 of the 19th century, but this is to be credited mainly to 

 the work of European naturalists who had made expedi- 

 tions to this country for the purpose of studying and 

 collecting. These collections were then taken to Europe 

 and the results published there. We thus find in the 12th 

 edition of Linnaeus descriptions of over 500 American 

 species, about half of which were birds. As an illustra- 

 tion of the extent to which some of these works covered 

 the field even in those early days may be mentioned a 

 monograph in two quarto volumes with many beautifully 

 colored plates on the " Natural History of the rarer Lepi- 



