228 Scientific News. [ March, 
history of fish culture and it practical workings he was doubtless 
better informed than any one else in this country at the time of 
his death. His enthusiastic and successful attempt at the fertiliza- 
tion and hatching of the eggs of the cod (never before attempted) 
kept him during an inclement season at Gloucester, Mass., under 
circumstances of great exposure. The disease of which he died 
was then first developed, though its seeds had doubtless long 
been latent in his system. A winter in Florida, a summer in 
Colorado, both came too late for his recovery to be even hoped 
for, and returning to his Illinois home (at Waukegan) he passed 
away in the midst of his family on the 6th of January, 1880. He 
left a wife and two children. Not only these bereaved ones will 
feel his loss. Those who knew him realize that a warm friend, a 
man of truth, integrity, modesty and sterling worth has been 
taken away, and that the pen of a careful, conscientious and intelli- 
gent observer and student has been laid down forever.—W. H. 
Dall. 
— The collection of the late Dr. Asa Fitch comprised one hun- 
dred and six heavy cork-lined boxes (the cartons liégés of Dey- 
rolle, 26 x 19% c.m.), nearly all of double depth, and with the ex- 
ception of a slight deposit of mold, easily removed, and a very small 
percentage of loose or broken specimens it is in excellent condi- 
tion. While the bulk of the material is from the United States, 
and principally of the doctor’s own collecting in the vicinity of 
his residence at Salem, Washington county, N. Y., there are also 
many species from all parts of the world received from exchanges 
with his correspondents, Drs. Sichel, Signoret, Fairmaire and 
Andrew Murray. The Coleoptera occupy eighteen boxes ; the 
Orthoptera, seven; Neuroptera, six; Hymenoptera, eight ; Lepi- 
doptera, twenty-one, of which four only contain the diurnal spe- 
cies. Both divisions of the Hemiptera are nobly represented, the 
Heteropterous by fourteen boxes, and the Homopterous, to which 
as most naturalists are aware the doctor devoted especial attention, 
fill twelve boxes, and preserve as do the other orders apparently 
all the types of the descriptions published in the New York State 
Agricultural Reports, and other articles. Five boxes exhibit an 
excellent set of American Diptera with many exotic forms, and 
four are devoted to Myriapoda, Arachnida and Crustacea. __ 
Some thousands of European and other exotic species received 
from Sichel, Signoret, A de la Cerda, and the late Rev. M. S. Cu 
ertson, who collected at Hong Kong, appear never to have been 
incorporated with the main collection, but are generally in good 
condition, occupying twenty-five or more boxes of various sizes. 
Several hundred biological illustrations, principally “ galls,” &c., 
occupy three or four double boxes, and are now in good order, 
but very liable to be disarranged in the event of transportation. — 
wo cases exhibit a vast amount of patient labor on the Ceci- 
