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It is with deep regret that we record the deaths of the fol- 

 lowing members during the year 1917: 



Louis Pope Gratacap 



Louis Pope Gratacap was born November 1, 1851, in Brook- 

 lyn. He attended the public schools, and graduated from the 

 College of the City of New York in 1869 with the degree of 

 Bachelor of Arts, and from the Columbia School of Mines in 

 1876 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1880 he 

 received the degree of Master of Arts from the College of the 

 City of New York. He entered the service of the Museum in 

 1876, when the collections were housed in the old Arsenal in 

 Central Park. In 1880 he was appointed Assistant Curator 

 of Mineralogy, and in 1883 Assistant Curator of the Depart- 

 ment of Geology. In 1900 he was made Curator of Miner- 

 alogy, also in charge of Conchology, becoming Curator of Con- 

 chology in 1901. In 1909 he received the appointment of 

 Curator of the division of Mollusca in the Department of 

 Invertebrate Zoology, and held this office, together with his 

 curatorship of Mineralogy, until the time of his death. Mr. 

 Gratacap, who was wonderfully versatile, was a fluent speaker 

 and brilliant lecturer, and possessed rare personal charm. His 

 numerous works of fiction bear witness to his remarkable 

 powers of imagination and elegance of literary style. In his 

 knowledge of gems, minerals and shells he was without a peer. 

 Combined with this attainment he possessed the rare faculty 



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