Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-12
AN AGED NATURALIST
NINETY YEARS OLD AND FORMS
VALUABLE COLLECTIONS.
Searches West Coast Of North and
South America for Flowers
and Insects.

With a butterfly net and a tin box for
collecting specimens George w. Dunn has
been quietly prowling over the Pacific
slope. from British Columbia on the north
to Chile on the south. for more than half a
century. He is the Oldest naturalist Of the
west. and now on the verge Of ninety years
of age he is still an active searcher for rare
bugs and insects and seeds and bulbs and
other things that have scientific interest
and commercial value in other parts of
the world.
George Dunn lives in San Diego county,
but he roams far from his home in his field
studies Of natural history. Old man that
he is. he goes where younger collectors will
not venture. He is an expert tree climber
and scales up into fir pines 125 to $50 feet
high to cut off the seed-bearing cones that
grow only on the top of the trees He saws
that he can climb q tree as well now as
ever he could. He never grows dizzy, He
has never had fall.
For upward of forty years he has been
making his living as q field naturalist He
has been adding to his personal collections
OF plants. insects shells and other things
till he has about 10000 specimens
He once sent to the Kew gardens in Lon
don the seeds of $50 different varieties of
the native wild flowers Of California He
sent to Germany seeds Of the red larlSspur
and received $50 an ounce for them. He
filled an order for collection of California
insects and sent them to the Emperor Of
Austria.
His Profession.
He has made collection Of California
wild flowers and seeds for the family of the
Car of Russia. He sent California birds
and seeds and insects to various large fan
ciers In Germany, Italy. Austria, Ceylon,
Africa and in Liverpool London, Paris and
Nf Nloo A.
the Baron de Rothschild famous museum
with different native insects of California
Be1a California and Mexico. He has made
special collections of California butterflies
Tor Baron de Rothschild. taking them from
such districts as the baron might designate
Mariposa county was a favorite butterfly
country because of the great variety ana
gorgeous colortng of its insects.
He has supplied many private gardens in
California with native lily bulbs and seeds
OF wild flowers. 1t was he who brought
the first seeds Of the fan palm to San Diego.
He obtained them at the head of the GIllf
OF California and sold them in San Diego
for 50 a pound. He also sent 400 pounds Of
the fan palm seed to Germany.
Early in his scientific career he made
large collections of plants and insects for
the California Academy Of Sciences and for
private individuals In Mexico and the Con-
trail American countries During those
years he met wealthy Engliishman in San
Francisco and supplied him with a large
number OF mounted specimens. When the
Englshman returned to London with his
prizes he spread the fame Of Dunn. That
made the reputation of the California natu
ralist and Immediately laid the foundation
OF his monetary success. Orders in plenty
came to him.
A Remarkable Feat.
He was sent by California to the worlds
fair at Chicago to name the botanical and
natural history specimens there displayed
over fifteen acres of space. He stayed six
months and named every specimen of the
fauna and flora and of the shells and in
sects Of the golden state
He has made twelve trips to Chile on
collecting tours in search of new plants and
insects He has similarly explored the east
coast OF Mexico and the southern states
In Texas. forty previously unknown species
of flowers and many different new varieties
of insects, several Of which were afterward
named for him.
This more than octogenarian does not
look his great years. There Is not a wrin-
kle in his face; his skin Is fair and health
full: his eyes are clear and keen; his every
sense Is alert; his memory is good: his body
erect; his step quick and elastic: his snow
white hair and beard thick and glossy: his
voice deep and sonorous. And you ask him
how all these things are SO for a man al
most ninety years old. He answers:
BY living In the open air and sunshine
and never worrying. I have never taken a
drink of alcoholic spirits in my life, nor
tasted tobacco in any form. 1 have not
eaten meat for the last twenty .one years,
ana never use pepper. mustard nor any
other high seasoning. like my food plain,
and my stomach Is as healthy as child S.
have been cheated and robbed of much
OF the money 1 have made, but I have
never lost one hour of sleep by worrying
over anything"