Note 2 — Chapter XXVI · EXPLORATIONS IN FLORIDA AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC

Extract of letter of Colonel Abert. See G. W. Featherstonhaugh (Bibl. No. 164), Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science, vol. i, p. 229 (1831).

John James Abert (1788-1863), long associated with the Bureau of Topographical Engineers of the United States Army, became brevet lieutenant-colonel in charge of that office in 1837; according to Ruthven Deane (see Bibliography, No. 216), he was an organizer of the National Institute of Science, afterwards merged with the Smithsonian Institution at Washington; an ardent friend of Audubon, he assisted him in many ways, and, as Dr. Richard Harlan affirmed, paid dearly for his support by being rejected for membership in the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. Harlan wrote to Audubon on January 27, 1832, that out of twenty-five members present on the occasion referred to, five, led by Mr. George Ord, Mr. Isaac Lea, and Dr. Hays, had voted against him: in his opinion no possible grounds could be found for opposing so desirable a member excepting his friendship for Audubon and his support of the snake "Episode" (see Chapter XXVIII). In 1832 Abert's paper on the "Habits of Climbing of the Rattlesnake," which was written in the previous year, had appeared in a Philadelphia journal (see Bibliography, No. 107). To this friend Abert's Squirrel, Sciurus aberti, was later dedicated; see Audubon, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (Bibl. No. 6), plate 153.