Waldo Irving Burnett, an American naturalist and microscopist, born in Southborough, Mass., July 12, 1828, died in Boston, July 1, 1854. In early boyhood he began the study of entomology, which he continued through life. His father was a physician, and under his guidance he commenced the study of medicine, graduated in 1849, and soon after visited Europe, where his attention was given almost exclusively to natural history and microscopic observation. During the last five years of his life, though suffering from consumption, he accomplished an almost incredible amount of intellectual labor, the results of which may be found in the "Proceedings" and "Journal" of the Boston society of natural history, in the " Memoirs of the American Academy of Arta and Sciences," in the " American Journal of Science," in the "Transactions of the American Medical Association for 1853," and in the " American Journal of Medical Science." His principal work was the prize essay published by the medical association on " The Cell, its Physiology, Pathology, and Philosophy, as deduced from Original Observations; to which is added its History and Criticism." He was engaged at the time of his death in translating from the German the " Comparative Anatomy " of Siebold and Stannius.