EDITORIAL. 
91 
sire  papers  from  scientific  observers  for  the  "  Practical  Entomologist," 
as  only  the  active  cooperation  of  all  interested  parties  will  insure  success 
in  an  undertaking  which  is  a  labor  of  public  benefit,  without  moneyed 
recompense. 
Progress  of  Agassiz. — It  may  be  interesting  to  our  readers  to  hear 
from  this  intrepid  naturalist,  which  we  are  able  to  do  by  the  following 
extract  from  the  Philadelphia  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  for  Dec  16  : 
Letters  have  been  received  from  Prof.  Agassiz,  giving  an  account  of 
his  scientific  explorations  in  and  along  the  river  Amazon.  Dr.  Continto 
of  Brazil,  a  gentleman  of  large  scientific  acquirements,  who  has  already 
made  a  thorough  exploration  of  the  Amazon,  accompanies  Prof.  Agassiz. 
He  writes  as  follows,  under  date  of  August  22  : 
"The  Professor  does  not  cease  extolling  the  riches  of  this  region,  and 
is  completely  absorbed  by  his  darling  fishes.  We  collected  in  Grupa 
and  Tagipuru  ten  new  species,  and  likewise  a  new  species  of  alligator, 
named  Jacareky.  He  told  me  to-day  that  when  the  work  was  concluded, 
we  will  make  a  real  revolution  in  the  scientific  world.  Almost  sixty  new 
species  in  less  tharf  fourteen  days  !    It  is  really  a  revolution. 
The  great  preparations  that  the  Professor  made  for  his  collections 
are  far  within  what  nature  furnishes  him,  such  is  the  prodigality  of  life  in 
the  valley  of  the  Amazonas.  All  is  superabundant,  and  there  is  a  luxuri- 
ance of  products  so  extraordinary  that  it  exceeds  the  most  extravagant 
dreams  that  the  man  of  science  formed  when  he  prepared  for  his  voyage." 
Prof.  Agassiz  himself  writes  as  follows,  under  date  of  August  20th  : 
"  The  result  of  our  inquiries,  above  all,  respecting  fish,  goes  beyond  the 
most  extravagant  dreams  I  ever  had.  Not  only  do  I  know  that  all  the 
locations  we  visit  nourish  different  faunas,  but  I  foresee"  also  that  the 
intermediate  localities  will  furnish  still  new  and  distinct  species,  so  great 
are  the  differences  of  those  we  have  already  studied. 
"  I  had  in  view  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  geographical  distribution  of 
the  fishes,  by  making  four  or  five  separate  collections  between  Para  and 
Manaos,  but  now  I  know  not  what  limits  wre  should  preserve,  so  that  it  is 
best  to  multiply  the  collections  as  far  as  circumstances  will  permit." 
In  another  letter  of  the  same  date  he  says  : 
"It  is  equally  interesting  to  discover  the  manner  of  inter-association  of 
the  species  ;  it  is  evident,  for  example,  that  the  fishes  assembled  at  Para 
are  not  the  same  as  those  united  at  Manaos.  or  in  the  great  affluents  of 
the  Amazonas.  I  have  already  a  certainty  of  this  from  the  collection  1 
made  at  Para.  During  the  eight  days  spent  in  your  hospitable  city, 
where  so  many  courtesies  and  such  delicate  attentions  were  showered  on 
me,  I  collected  sixty-three  species  of  fishes — of  this  number  nearly  a  dozen 
unknown  ;  and,  notwithstanding,  about  forty-five  species  are  already  de- 
scribed as  peculiar  to  the  Amazon.  Consequently  those  that  are  known 
which  I  did  not  discover  at  Para  must  dwell  in  some  other  region  of  tjie 
great  river.  You  see  now  that  the  work  merely  of  two  days  tends  to 
demonstrate  that  each  region  of  this  great  basin  must  have  collections  of 
different  species,  a  fact  that  science  was  completely  ignorant  of  until  nowr. 
"  Besides,  if  the  species  of  different  regions  differ  one  from  the  other  in 
the  same  river,  and  if  marine  fishes  ascend  the  river  in  a  limited  number 
to  an  inconsiderable  distance  from  the  sea,  shortly  it  will  become  im- 
probable that  the  fluvial  species  can  proceed  from  the  marine  species  ; 
above  all,  if  the  different  shoals  are  found  in  similar  regions  of  the  river 
and  at  a  short  distance  from  one  another. 
"  Well,  you  see  what  results  this  ought  to  give  in  time;  and  in  the 
meantime  I  can  only  indicate  the  track  that  I  count  on  following  in  my 
