Ayres, Lesueur, Mitchill, Storer, Linsley, Wyman, DeKay, Smith, Kirtland, Rafinesque and Haldeman described the fishes.
Green, Barton, Harlan, Le Conte, Say, and especially Holbrook, studied the reptiles and amphibia. Holbrook’s great monograph of the reptiles (North American Herpetology) was published between 1834 and 1845.
Wilson, Audubon, Nuttall, Cooper, DeKay, Brewer, Ord, Baird, Gould, Bachman, Linsley and Fox were among the numerous writers on birds.
Godman, Ord, Richardson, Audubon, Bachman, DeKay, Linsley and Harlan published accounts of mammals.
On the invertebrates an important general work entitled “Invertebrata of Massachusetts; Mollusca, Crustacea, Annelida and Radiata” was published by A. A. Gould in 1841, which contains all the New England species of these groups known to that date.
Lea, Totten, Adams, Barnes, Gould, Binney, Conrad, Hildreth, Haldeman, were the principal writers on mollusks. The crustacea were studied by Say, Gould, Haldeman, Dana; the insects by Say, Melsheimer, Peck, Harris, Kirby, Herrick; the spiders by Hentz; the worms by Lee; the coelenterates and echinoderms by Say, Mantell and others.
The history of entomology in the United States previous to 1846 is given by John G. Morris in the Journal (1, 17, 1846). In this article F. V. Melsheimer is stated to be the father of American Entomology, while Say was the most prolific writer. Say’s entomological papers, edited by J. L. Le Conte, were completely reprinted with their colored illustrations in 1859. The first economic treatise is that by Harris on Insects Injurious to Vegetation; printed in 1841. This has had many editions.
Zoology in the American Journal of Science, 1818–1846.
The establishment of the Journal gave a further impetus to the scientific activities of Americans in furnishing a convenient means for publishing the results of their work. In the first volume of the Journal, for example, are two zoological articles by Say and a dozen short articles on various topics by Rafinesque, the latter being curious combinations of facts and fancy. Most of the zoological papers appearing in its first series of 50 volumes are characteristic of an undeveloped science in an undeveloped country. They deal, naturally, with observational studies on the structure and classification of species discovered in a virgin field, with notes on habits and life histories.
Many of the papers are purely systematic and include the first descriptions of numerous species of our mollusks, crustacea, insects, vertebrates and other groups. Of these, the writings of C. B. Adams, Barnes, A. A. Gould and Totten on mollusks, of J. D. Dana on corals and crustacea, of Harris on insects, of Harlan on reptiles, and of Jeffries Wyman and D. Humphreys Storer on fishes are representative and important.