Article beginning on page 159.
Psyche 8:159, 1897.
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PSYCHE;.
GEORGE HENRY HORN.
GEORGE HENRY HORN, President of
the American entomological society,
died at Beesley's Point, 3. J., Novem-
ber 24, 1897. He was born April 7,
1840, at Philadelphia. After attending
the Central High School he entered the
University of Pennsylvania, graduating
in medicine in 1861. From I 862-1866
Dr. Horn w:ts a surgeon in the United
States army serving in California,
Arizona, and New Mexico; here he
gathered large collections especially in Coleoptera, On his return to Philadel-
phia Dr. Horn enlered upon the practice
of his profession ; his skill in obstetrics soon brought him a large clientele. A
few years ago he gave up active practice. Dr. Horn visited Europe on several
occasions, and made a trip to California in 1893; with these exceptions his life
was practically passed in Philadelphia,
where he was active in scientific circles through his connection with the Amer-
ican entomological society, the Academy
of natural sciences, and the American
philosophical society ; of the last he
was librarian and one of the secretaries at the time of his death. Though nom-
inally connected with the Univet sity of Pennsylvania, since 1890, as" Professor
of entomology, he never taught. Dr.
Horn was a charter member of the
Entomological society of Philadelphia,
the predecessor of the American ento-
inological society, and an honorary or
corresponding member of various
entomological societies the world over.
His collection and library, together
with a modest sum of money, were
bequeathed to the American entomo-
logical society. A physician by pro-
fession Dr. Honi was even earlier a
naturalist. Before graduating from the
medical school he had published a few
papers on recent and fossil corals ; the influence of Prof. Joseph Leidy, how-
ever, turned his attention to entomology, while the advice and friendship of Dr.
John L. Leconte led him to devote him-
self to the study of the Coleoptera of
Boreal America. He was distinctly
Leconte's pupil, working in cooperation
with him for many years, and, since
1883, easily the most eminent investi-
gator in his chosen line of work; but
few of his studies concerned extra-
limital forms, and though several were
devoted to the habits and early stages,
and at least one to fossil forms, his
work deals almost entirely with North
American C~ieopterolog~ from a sys-
tematic, descriptive standpoint. His
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160 PLY 2THE. [January 1898
first entomological paper was entitled
' Descriptions of new North American
Coleoptcra in the cabinet of the Ento-
mological society of Philadelphia ' and
was published in the Proc. acad. nat.
sci. Phila., for 1860, p. 569-571. In
the beginning his original work shows
unmistakably his inexperience, but his
great keenness and a true appreciation of the structural differences that character- ize species soon became manifest, and is evident in most of his future publica-
tions. Dr. Horn was a rapid, accurate
worker, a painstaking and careful clelin- eator. His contiibutions numbel more
than 150 important papers, in addition
to very many minor notes ; in these
papers about 150 genera and more than
:^so species are defined, and very few
in either series are to be ranked as
synonyms.
With but little interest in, and
hardly enough appreciation or even
toleration for, inmy lines of study,
Horn's monographic work stands with
the very best of his time, and though
the death of Leconte, in 1883, was
considered a calamity to his special
branch of science, it may well be
doubted if the death of Horn in 1897
is not a greater loss. Leconte left a
well-equipped successor in Horn, but
tlie successor of Horn is not yet appar- ent, and to be worthy of the place must
follow closely along the lines so clearly marked out by the well-directed labors
of John Lawrence Leconte and George
Henry Horn.
PACIFIC COAST COLLECTING. -I.
BY ALBERT PITTS MOKSK, WELLESLEY, MASS.
At the suggestion and with the coop-
eration of Mr. Samuel H. Scudder of
Cambridge, Mass., I undertook last
summer a collecting trip to the Pacific
Coast of the United States to secure the Orthoptera inhabiting the region be-
tween the Sierra Nevada mountains and
the sea. At his request I have put
together a few notes which may prove
of interest to entomologists contemplat- ing a trip to that part of the country.
Of course, so great an extent of ter-
ritory could be examined but superfi-
cially in one summer, but even this had
never been clone with special rcfcrence
to the Orthopter?. And although twelve
weeks were devoted to the task it was
found impossible to do more than make
a cursory examination of the most
important points directly on the Lhrougli line of the railroad, and a few short
side-trips to places that promised well. Had it been possible I should have vis-
ited several more points situated in less accessible but very interesting localities. The same amount of time could be
profitably spent upon a much smaller
area. Unless it be necessary to exam-
ine, however hastily, a large field the
best method is to remain in each locality visited until its various features are
adequately covered.
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