4 The American Geologist. January, i899 
In 1878, Cope became associate editor of the "American 
N'aturalist." He maintained his connection with this journal 
until his death, becoming in 1887, its editor-in-chief and sole 
proprietor. Professor Cope was a member of the Academy 
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, and of many other scientific associations. He 
was president of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science in 1896, and his address as retiring president 
was to have been read before the annual meeting in August, 
1897- • . . . 
Professor Cope's investigations and contributions to sci- 
ence were connected successively with the following subjects: 
(9) herpetology; (b) ichthyology: (c) mammalogy; (d) philos- 
ophy. In reviewing his work, this division of the field of his 
labors will be recognized. 
( a . ) Herpetology. 
From early boyhood, Cope was greatly interested in rep- 
tiles, particularly snakes, and the collection, description and 
classification of recent and extinct reptilian forms were always 
his favorite study. His investigation in this field began in 
1859, and when twenty-four, he had worked out a new classifi- 
cation of the Anura, based on structural characters. A few 
years later he made a similar classification of the lizards. These 
classifications have been accepted by scientists and have en- 
tirely superseded the older classifications based on external 
resemblances. 
Professor Cope's attention was first called to extinct rep- 
tilian forms in 1865. His study of the Reptilia of New Jersey, 
Maryland, and Virginia was summarized in one of his most 
important papers, "Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia, Reptilia 
and Aves of North America," (68). In this, he proposed the 
great extinct order Stegocephali, to include the labyrinthodons 
and other huge monsters of the past, a classification that has 
been generally accepted by paleontologists throughout the 
world. 
Cope's western explorations yielded rich returns. He 
found large numbers of hitherto unknown batrachian and 
reptilian fossils which he named and classified. The results of 
his investigations on the amphibian forms were brought to- 
