358 Coe — A Century of Zoology in America. 



dopterous Insects'' of Georgia. This was published in 

 London in 1797 by J. E. Smith from the notes and draw- 

 ings of John Abbot, one of the keenest naturalists of 

 any period. 



During the early years of the 19th century, however, 

 economic conditions in our country became such as to give 

 opportunity for scientific thought. Educated men then 

 formed themselves into societies for the discussion of 

 scientific matters. This naturally led to the establish- 

 ment of publications whereby the papers presented to the 

 societies could be published and made available to the 

 advancement of science generally. The most influential 

 of these was the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Science, which was established in 1817, and was 

 devoted largely to zoological papers. The Annals of the 

 New York Lyceum of Natural History date from 1823, 

 and the Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History 

 from 1834. The Transactions of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society in Philadelphia and the Memoirs of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston also 

 published many zoological articles. 



In these publications and in this Journal, which was 

 founded in 1818, appear the descriptions of newly dis- 

 covered animal species, with observations on their habits. 



The number of investigators in this field in the first 

 quarter of the 19th century was but few, and most of 

 these were compelled to take for the work such time as 

 they could spare from their various occupations. 



Gradually the workers became more numerous until 

 about the middle of the century zoology was taught in all 

 the larger colleges. The science thereby developed into 

 a profession. 



For some years the studies remained largely of a sys- 

 tematic nature, and embraced all groups of animals, but 

 long before the close of the century the attention of the 

 majority of the ever increasing group of zoologists was 

 directed into more promising channels for research and 

 there came the development of the sciences of compara- 

 tive anatomy, physiology, embryology, experimental 

 zoology, cytology, genetics, and the like, while the sys- 

 tematists became specialists in the various animal groups. 



But the work in systematic zoology remains incomplete 

 and many native species are still undescribed or imper- 

 fectly classified. It is perhaps fortunate that a few 



