REMINISCENCES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 
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diabolic cat-fish, yclept in systematic terms the AnarrMchas , came fresh from the rocky beds 
where some rare mollusk feeds ; then were days of enthusiastic working, dampened never a 
bit, though the odors were never so rank, and the short focus of our near-sighted friend a 
seeming obstacle. Putnam, of Salem, was now working among the fishes, and Agassiz s 
museum was rapidly becoming a busy laboratory. Comparative anatomy and some branches 
of zoology were almost uncultivated in America before this period. Books weie not to be 
had. What little was known was the scattered results of a few foreign expeditions that 
touched our shores, recorded in European publications. What a commentary on all this do 
we now witness — the vast amount of published matter of the Smithsonian, as well as that of 
other institutions. The archives of the Fish Commission now abound in valuable records. 
Method was now fairly introduced. Agassiz had established his great storehouse and labora- 
tories. Students came to him, each with an especial theme, perhaps, but all to begin labor in 
the one proper way, with scalpel and lens in hand. The names of those who now would 
respond with credit to the roll-call of science are so numerous, and the honors are so evenly 
divided, it would be quite invidious to enumerate any portion. 
The Fish Commission, with its admirable appliances, gathered to its organization many 
promising investigators. Princeton and Johns Hopkins have their schools of biology ; and 
the School of Science at Martha’s Vineyard exhibits the increased attention given to natural 
history. Hyatt, of the Boston Society, has a flourishing school of biology at Cape Ann. 
During the pre-Agassiz period, we have seen, little work was accomplished in biology and 
comparative anatomy. The various State Reports were among the first records of valuable 
work done in various branches. In Massachusetts the first geological report of Dr. Hitchcock 
contained catalogues of the birds and mammals then known to inhabit the State. Meagre lists 
they were, accompanied by no notes of observation. So, also, of the fishes, by Dr. J. V. C. 
Smith, in the same volume. 
A second series, published in 1839-40, was a welcome gift to American science. The large 
volume on geology, by Hitchcock, was issued separately, and the other subjects were treated 
in separate volumes. 
Dr. Gould’s “Report on the Invertebrata of Massachusetts” was immensely creditable. 
The mollusks occupied the greater part of the volume, as very little research had been 
bestowed on the other forms by any one in America, The entire matter devoted to “ Annelids, 
Radiates, Tunicates, and Crustacea ” was contained within thirty-one pages. The first sub- 
ject occupied two pages, the second ten pages, and the remainder devoted to a treatise on 
noxious animals and to Crustacea. We have elsewhere spoken of the excellence of the copper- 
plate etching. Binney has since republished this work, with some additional colored plates. 
Dr. Storer embodied the results of his investigations in a companion report, issued by the 
State. This was equally valuable, and good in execution. Afterwards his “Fishes of North 
America” was issued. Then appeared the fine Reports of the State of New York, Dr. DeKay 
being prominently identified with some of them. The labors of Mitchell, Binney, Say, and 
others were recorded here. 
The Philadelphia Academy of Sciences was the resort of men of science, Say, Leseur, 
and Bonaparte, Harlan and Le Conte, Wilson and Audubon, and Sully. Here was a coterie 
of delightful and refined companionship in natural science. 
As we unfold the leaves of our old letter-book the honored name of a life-long friend, 
Spencer F. Baird, occurs. Before the days of the Smithsonian this letter was written, from 
Carlisle, Penn., to solicit an exchange of a “ List of the birds of Carlisle,” for a similar “ List 
of the birds of Lynn and vicinity.” These are among the earliest local publications. The 
latter enumerated one hundred and eighty-five species. Putnam had published his observa- 
tions on the birds noticed in the County of Essex, Mass. 
The Lyceum of New York during those days was doing good work. Lawrence, who yet 
lives, and is honored as one of the most eminent ornithologists, has during his life been iden- 
tified with the history of our native birds. 
Say had published his beautiful work on the insects of North America. Insects and 
shell-fish were attractive, and greatly, perhaps, on this account there was more interest shown 
