ALLEN, Joel Asaph, naturalist, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, 19 July 1838. He studied first at the Wilbraham academy, and then at the Lawrence scientific school under Agassiz, where he devoted special attention to zoBlogy, and was one of the assistants that accompanied Agassiz on the expedition to Brazil in 1865. He visited Florida in 1869, and the Rocky mountain region in 1871, with scientitle exploring parties, and in 1873 was the chief of an expedition sent out by the Northern Pacific railroad. In 1870 he became assistant in ornithology at the museum of comparative zoBlogy at Cambridge, and in 1871 received the Humboldt scholarship. Since 1885 he has been curator of the department of mammals and birds in the American museum of natural history, New York. In 1871 he was made a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences, and in 1876 a fellow of the national academy of sciences. He is also a member of the American association for the advancement of science, and of the American philosophical society. From 1883 to 1886 he was. president of the American ornithologists' union. He is the author of numerous reports and scientific papers, among which are "On Geographical Variation in Color among North American Squirrels" (1874); "Notes on the Mammals of Portions of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah " (1874): "Geographical Variation in North American Birds" (1874); and " Notes on the Natural History of Portions of Montana and Dakota" (1875). He has also written "Mammals and Winter Birds of East Florida" (Cambridge, 1871) ; "The American Bison, Living and Extinct " (1872) ;" Monographs of North American Rodentia," with Dr. Elliott Coues (1876); "History of North American Pinnipeds, a Monograph of the Walruses, Sea Lions, Sea Bears, and Seals of North America" (1880). From 1876 to 1883 he edited the " Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club," and since then (1884-'6) he has had charge of " The Auk," a quarterly journal of ornithology.