MEMOIR OF RALPH DUPLY LACOE 515 



perfect hearing he was slow to make new acquaintances. He was 

 strong, earnest, noble-minded, and generously just, yet not lacking in 

 humor or amiability of companionship. To know him was both to love 

 and to admire him. His friendship was always helpful and inspiring. 

 If he was deliberate in commendation, his compliments were alwa}^ full 

 of kind thoughtfulness and absolute sincerity. He was fond of encour- 

 aging and aiding young men, many of whom owe their success in life to 

 the benefit of his friendship and the lesson of his exalted motives. 



The fine quality of Lacoe's scientific spirit was well shown in the terms 

 by which his great gift to science was intrusted to the keeping of the 

 National Museum. In the simple words of the offer he stipulated only 

 that the collection in its entirety should be known as the Lacoe collec- 

 tion; that additions might be made to it by exchange or further contri- 

 butions by the donor, and that it should be kept " accessible to scientists 

 and students without distinction, under such proper rules and restrictions 

 as may be deemed necessary for the preservation from loss or injury of 

 the specimens." As we have seen, his liberal designs for the further in- 

 crease of the paleontological material were destined to be but partly 

 carried out by himself. 



The greatest and most enduring monument to Lacoe's devotion to and 

 work for science is the Lacoe collection itself. Carefully guarded against 

 danger or deterioration, it will be increased from time to time b}^ ex- 

 changes or additional gifts. Its types, from the hands of Lesquereux, 

 Dawson, Cope, and Scudder, will be consulted and reexamined by the 

 savants of paleontology for centuries to come. Students of life distribu- 

 tion, climate, and of evolution will review its suites of collateral speci- 

 mens, and their records will supplement the records of the great paleon- 

 tologists of the past who participated in its original elaboration. Thus 

 Lacoe's work, which seemed so unhappily cut off in the midst of his 

 broadest plans for the increase of human knowledge, will continue to go 

 forward. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



List of Paleozoic fossil insects of the United States and Canada, alphabetically 

 arranged, giving names of authors, geological age, locality of occurrence, and 

 place of preservation, with references to the principal bibliography of the 

 subject. Proc. Wyoming Hist, and Qeol. Soc, vol. i, Wilkesbarre, 1883, pub. 

 no. 5, pp. 1-21. 



Catalogue of the Paleozoic fossil plants of North America. Pittston, 1884, pp. 1-15, 

 octavo. 



Fossil reptile tracks from the anthracite Coal Measures. Proc. Wyoming Hisl.and 

 Geol. Soc, vol. i, no. 3, 1881, pp. 6-8. 



LXXIV— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.. Vol. 13, 1901 



