CHARLES EMERSON BEECHER. 



fossils which were silieified in the most perfect condition for 

 development by etching with acid. From such materials he ob- 

 tained specimens of surpassing beauty and scientific interest. 

 Beside adult fronds of Bryozoa, Brachiopoda, Crustacea, and 

 other fossils in most perfect preservation, he obtained minute 

 embryos and small species in large numbers in literally wonderful 

 condition of perfection. Young Bilohites half a millimeter in 

 length, young Acidaspis 0.83 millimeter, and Arges 1.15 milli- 

 meters long, both of the latter so perfect that he figured them 

 from both the dorsal and the ventral aspects; young Pleuro- 

 dictyon consisting of the initial cup alone, and also others with 

 the first lateral buds; young Bryozoa showmg initial chambers. 

 Such material, selected with infinite care and patience, formed 

 the basis of a number of papers by Beecher and others. 



At this period Beecher published independently a paper on 

 Phylloearida, a group in which he never lost interest, from ma- 

 terial collected by him at Warren, Pennsylvania; and several 

 papers on the recent Eissoida. His most important work of this 

 period was based on Brachiopoda obtained from the clays of 

 "Waldron, Indiana, in which he was associated with John M. 

 Clarke. This paper is one of the first on the development of 

 Paleozoic Brachiopoda, and opened up several new lines of in- 

 vestigation. 



In 1888 Prof. 0. C. Marsh, of Xew Haven, induced Beecher 

 to accept the position of Assistant in Paleontology at the Peabody 

 Museum of Yale University, though for a time he was also named 

 Consulting Paleontologist to the Museum at Alban}^, and re- 

 turned there from time to time in connection with the duties of 

 this honorar}' position. He also pursued his studies at Yale, 

 under Dana, for the degree of Ph. D., which was conferred upon 

 him in 1889, his doctoral thesis treating of the Brachio-spongii- 

 dse, a group of fossil sponges of which the Yale Museum has an 

 unusually fine series. Omng to the illness of Professor Dana, 

 in 1891, Beecher took charge of the classes in Geology during 

 that and the following 3'ear, when he was made Instructor in 

 Paleontolog}-, and later Assistant Professor of Paleontology, be- 

 coming in 1897 Professor of Historical Geology and a member 

 of the Governing Board of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale 

 University. 



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