Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/99

Rh thousand species of insects. Some of these were type specimens from which he had himself described new species. This whole collection, together with his entomological library, was turned over by his parents to the academy, upon certain conditions securing its proper care and integrity, June 25, 1886.

The archæological work of the academy has been done in two localities. Among Davenport residents who have been interested in the academy is Captain Wilfred P. Hall, better known as "the old man of the skiff." Captain Hall through a long series of years made great journeys on the Mississippi and its tributary streams in a little boat. Among the Arkansas mounds he made extensive diggings and collected many beautiful and valuable relics. The district is a rich one, especially in objects of pottery and shell. When fine specimens were found in private hands, the captain would secure them by purchase or exchange. In his barter, books, including dictionaries, were of special use. After every trip Captain Hall brought back new and interesting material, until the academy's collection was one of the finest, if not the best, from that district. It was this collection that supplied the better part of William H. Holmes's important paper upon the



Ancient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley. Captain Hall's collection is still one of the strongest features in the academy's museum, and the old skiff in which he traveled so many