178 .REPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONEE OF FISHEEIES. 



His last work is still the most comprehensive illusti-ated volume des- 

 criptive of the fishes of Massachusetts alone. 



David Humphreys Storer was born in Portland, Me., March 26, 

 ISO-i; attended Bowdoin College and was graduated there in 1822; 

 then studied medicine, and was graduated from the medical depart- 

 ment of Harvard College in 1825. Immediately afterwards he estab- 

 lished himself in Boston as a genei^al practitioner of medicine. In 

 182!) he married Abby Jane Brewer, a sister of Dr. Thomas Brewer, 

 later known as a distinguished ornithologist. " In 1837 he cooperated 

 with Jacob Bigelov/, Edward Reynolds, and Oliver Wendell Holmes in 

 founding the Tremont Street Medical School. He became interested 

 in natural history, was one of the founders of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History,'' ""had the honor of lecturing to the societj^ two suc- 

 ceeding seasons, 1831-32," on conchology, and in 1838 was elected 

 curator of the herpctological and ichthyological collections. He was 

 also "commissioned" in 1837 as one of the commissioners to report 

 on the zoology and botany of Massachusetts under an act of the legis- 

 lature ''approved 12th April, 1837," and reported in 1889 on the 

 herpetology as well as ichthyology of the state. 



In 1851: he was called to the professorship of olistetrics and medical 

 jurisprudence in the medical school of Harvard; in 1859 became also 

 the dean, and held both appointments till 1868. Meanwhile, from 

 1849 till 1858, he was physician to the Massachusetts General Hospital. 

 In 18G6 he served as president of the American Medical Association. 

 He was honored by Bowdoin College in 1876 with the degree of LL.D. 

 In 1883 he retired almost entirely from practice and spent the remain- 

 ing j^ears of his life in the enjoyment of well-merited leisure. He 

 died in Boston in 1891. 



Storer's principal works relative to the region under consideration 

 are "A Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts," published in the Bos- 

 ton Journal of Natural History, in 1839 ^'; "A Synopsis of the Fishes of 



a The Report was published in the following forms: 



<1) A Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts. By D. Humphreys Storer, M. I). <Boston Journal 

 of Natural History, Vol. II, 1839, pp. 289-558, pi. vi-viii. 



Descriptions are given of 107 nominal species, 91 of which are salt or brackisli water, and IG fresh 

 water; in the concluding remarks, 9 additional undeterminate species are indicated as prolmble 

 inhabitants of the Massachusetts waters. 



(2) Supplement to the Ichthyological Report. <lb., Vol. Ill, 1841, pp. 267-273. 



(3) Additional Descriptions of , and Observations on, the Fishes of Massachu.setts. 1842. <Ib., IV., 

 1844, pp. 175-190. 



A second supplement to the report. 



(4) Reports on the Ichthyology and Herpetology of Masisachnsetts. By D. Humphreys Storer, 51. D. 

 <Reports on the fishes, reptiles, and birds of Massachusetts. Published agreeably to an order of the 

 legislature, by the commi.ssioners on the zoological and botanical survey of the State. Boston : Dutton 

 &Wentworth, State Printers. 1839. [8vo,xii pp.+2l.+426pp.,4pl.] Pp. 1-2.53, with half-title--- Fishes 

 of Massachusetts — pp. 1-202, pi. 1-3. 



The Report on the Fishes is the same as that published in the Boston Journal of Natiiral History, but 

 (1) an entirely different introduction is added, (2) the supplementary observations on Carcharias 

 obscuru^ (B. J., HI, 558) are omitted, and (3) supplementary observations are added (pp. 405-409) on 

 several species. 



The plates are evidently printed from tlie .same lithographic stones. 



