SKETCH OF JOSEPH LEIDY. 691 



he has since published is his " Description of Vertebrate Remains, 

 chiefly from the Phosphate Beds of South Carolina," in the eighth 

 volume of the journal of the Academy. 



Finding that the activity and enthusiasm of the younger natural- 

 ists, who had taken up the study of the extinct fauna of the West, were 

 quite sufficient to guarantee the prompt use of the fine collections 

 which still continue to be received from that region, and constitution- 

 ally indisposed to take part in the battle for priority, Dr. Leidy 

 availed himself with pleasure of the opportunity to study a group of 

 minute organisms to which he had already given some attention. For 

 the next four years he devoted all his spare time to collecting, studying 

 and delineating the fresh-water rhizopods of America, and the results 

 of his work are embodied in the twelfth volume of the report of the 

 United States Geological Survey of the Territories. The memoir is 

 entitled " Fresh-water Rhizopods of North America," and is perhaps 

 the best illustration of Dr. Leidy's qualities as a naturalist, and the 

 most enduring monument to his industry, which has yet appeared. 

 While preparing the work he spent the greater portion of two seasons 

 in the West, under the auspices of the Survey, and made careful ex- 

 plorations of the country about Fort Bridger, the Uintah Mountains, 

 and the Salt Lake Basin, in search of materials for the memoir. 



Since the issue of this superb monograph, Dr. Leidy has been en- 

 gaged in preparing a new edition of his manual of human anatomy. 

 When this is finished, he intends collecting material for an elaborate 

 illustrated work on parasites. He will probably publish, in the next 

 number of the journal of the Academy, a paper on the parasites of 

 the white ant, many curious forms of which were brought to his notice 

 during his studies of the rhizopods. 



The value of Dr. Leidy's scientific work has lately been substan- 

 tially recognized by the Council of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, which awarded him the Walker Prize. On account of the 

 extraordinary merit of his researches, the prize, which usually consists 

 of the sum of $500, was on the occasion increased to $1,000. 



In the performance of the great scientific work thus imperfectly 

 recorded, Dr. Leidy has confined himself to the duty of accurately 

 describing what he has seen. He very rarely draws inferences from 

 his accumulated facts, and his innate truthfulness is such as to deter 

 him from theorizing. As a lecturer he rarely indulges in figures of 

 speech or flights of fancy. He is deliberate and lucid in his state- 

 ments, some of his word-pictures being so nearly perfect as to make 

 the fine blackboard drawings with which he often illustrates his re- 

 marks almost unnecessary. His delight at acquiring knowledge of 

 a new fact is only equaled by his pleasure in communicating it to 

 others. 



