ual was issued in 1940 (Part 1, published in 1939, treated 

 land mollusks from the Western United States) , contin- 

 ued when the third section appeared in 1946, and was 

 completed after the 1948 publication of Part 4- As 

 Hubricht collected and studied, focusing on working 

 areas that represented gaps in the data available to 

 Pilsbry, each new record was transferred to these maps. 

 Leslie, his maps, and a cluster of students and collectors 

 seeking identifications, distributional data, and advice, 

 were a familiar sight at national meetings of the Ameri- 

 can Malacological Union. 



Publication of these maps and a summary of 

 Hubricht's ideas on species of land snails in the Eastern 



are collecting trips for the coming years as his collection 

 continues to grow in number and scope, and his list of 

 publications enlarges. 



We will continue to assist in his studies. We are very 

 proud and happy that he has chosen to will his collection 

 to Field Museum of Natural History, and that we will 

 become the permanent guardian of this unique and 

 irreplaceable national treasure. While museums are the 

 logical long-term custodians of such collections, the ori- 

 gin of each is mostly in the dedication and drive of indi- 

 viduals such as Leslie Hubricht. Indeed, up to 90 percent 

 of the mollusk collections in major U.S. museums have 

 resulted from the activities of individual collectors 



Specimens are grouped 

 according to vial size to 

 conserve space. By 

 means of an elaborate 

 cross-index, Hubricht 

 can locate any particular 

 set in a few seconds. 



United States became more and more essential. After 

 retiring in February 1973, Leslie put full time effort into 

 fieldwork to fill in distributional gaps, establish range 

 limits, reviewing the collections in the major museums, 

 then adding their records to his maps, and describing 

 additional new species. Finally, late in 1983, the check 

 list and 523 distributional maps were considered ready 

 for publication. They were submitted to Field Museum, 

 reviewed by outside specialists, and the monograph 

 accepted. Minor editing, trimming and mounting of the 

 maps, and production routine followed. The long- 

 awaited The Distributions of the Native Land Mollusks of 

 the Eastern United States was issued by Field Museum as 

 Fieldiana: Zoology, new series, no. 24, on June 28, 1985. 

 This forms a milestone and will be the basis for the 

 next generations of students to build upon. Far from be- 

 ing finished, Hubricht has a private list of collecting sites 

 from which he has gotten only one or two examples each 

 of additional new species. Totalling more than 20, here 



rather than by professional scientists and curators. In- 

 sects, herpetology, and fossils are other areas whose col- 

 lections owe much to individuals. 



It is most appropriate to portray Leslie Hubricht, to 

 see how and why he was able to accomplish so much as a 

 private individual. Not only because of intrinsic inter- 

 est, but also as a lesson of encouragement to those who 

 might be thinking of investigating some branch of 

 natural history, but are uncertain as to what they might 

 contribute. 



Chance and choices are part of every life, and 

 Hubricht's story exemplifies this pattern. Born in Los 

 Angeles on January 11, 1908, his instincts as a naturalist 

 surfaced at age two, when, after a rainstorm, he remem- 

 bers noticing eight different species of ants running 

 about the backyard. The family moved to Kokomo, Indi- 

 ana in 1917, and for the next six years he bird- watched 

 and looked at plants, but lacked a seminal influence to 

 develop and focus his natural history instincts. After he 



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