CULYER, John Yapp, civil engineer, born in New York City, 18 May 1839. He studied surveying and architecture, after which he spent three years in general engineering. Subsequently he became assistant engineer in Central park, New York, and during the civil war was assistant secretary of the U. S. sanitary commission. He also served for a time on the defenses south of the Potomac. In 1865 he returned to Central park, remaining there for a year, when he was appointed assistant engineer in charge of the Brooklyn parks, and from 1872 till 1886 was chief engineer and superintendent. He has acted in the capacity of associate engineer to the Albany parks, to the parks and the riverside improvement in Chicago, and to the state capitol grounds in Nashville. He was a member of the first rapid transit commission in Brooklyn, and later engineer of the sixth rapid transit commission, besides being connected with a great variety of general railroad work and public improvement. Colonel Culyer has invented implements for improved road construction and for the transplanting of large trees. He is a member of the American society of civil engineers. For more than twenty years he has been a contributor to scientific, literary, and art journals, and he has also edited educational and sanitary journals.