Memorial and Bibliography xxiii 



Soon thereafter, illness impaired his opportunity for continuous 

 work in the laboratory, but even under this physical handicap he 

 continued to devote all the time that his strength would allow to 

 the final studies for and preparation of the manuscript for his 

 nuu/nuifi opus — the monograph on The Molluscan Family Plan- 

 orbidae. Volume 1. based on exhaustive anatomical researches, was 

 ready for the editor and work was progressing on Volume II when he 

 was taken critically ill and hospitalization for surgery was unavoid- 

 able. Following the operation he never regained his health but 

 became rapidly weaker and died on May 7, 1942. 



Slight in stature, unpretentious in attitude, mild in disposition, 

 and kindly, charitable, and unbiased in all of his personal and pro- 

 fessional relations, Mr. Baker has left an undying impression of 

 honesty, integrity, and genuineness in the memories of his many 

 friends and associates. 



For more than half a century (1889-1942) Mr. Baker continued 

 to publish the results of his researches and observations. Aside from 

 purely incidental notes and compilations, which he continued to pub- 

 lish throughout his career, his early publications dealt largely with 

 distributional studies and problems of taxonomy of the MoUusca. 

 Relatively early he began to shift his interest in Mollusca from 

 purely conchological to malacological lines (about 1897) when he 

 began to study the radulae and anatomy of the soft parts of the 

 molluscs. The interest in Pleistocene paleontology first found expres- 

 sion in a paper published in 1898 and continued through the rest of 

 his life with two posthumous papers on this subject. 



Faunal studies with considerable attention to ecological relations 

 of the molluscs began early and found particular expression in his 

 monograph on the Lymnaeidae (1911) and in his ecological studies 

 on the fauna of Oneida Lake. These studies stand as background to 

 the interest which found final expression in his contributions as asso- 

 ciate editor of Xaturalist's Guide to the Americas (1926). 



His long identification with the program of molluscan studies, 

 kindly personal qualifications, and familiarity with the history of the 

 subject led to his being commissioned to prepare biographical 

 sketches for five of the distinguished students of Mollusca in the 

 Dictionary of American Biography (Gould, 1929; Kennicott, 1930; 

 Stimpson. 1932; Tryon, 1933; and Sterki, 1933). 



Interest in museum administration found expression in a series 

 of papers issued during his years with the Chicago Academy and 

 was revived when he became established in the museum at the 

 University of Illinois. 



His publications in archeology were stimulated by his responsi- 

 bility for the University collections and were concerned largely with 

 analysis of shells and other remains of animal life encountered in 

 excavations of Indian village sites in the Middle West. In this aspect 



