BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN ADAM RYDER. 681 



writing a book on the infusoria, a work that yet remains a desideratum. 

 Dr. Ryder had a ready knowledge of the group. In later years he con- 

 stantly reverted to it for illustration in his studies of the movements of 

 protoplasm. A third undertaking on the embryology of fishes was 

 proposed. It never went further than the title-page. In 1887 he 

 seriously contemplated a text-book on general embryology. It was to 

 be •" copiously illustrated and to set forth the principles from new 

 points of view." To this task he intended devoting two or three years. 

 In 1893 he published, under the auspices of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, a pamphlet entitled "The Synthetical Museum of Comparative 

 Anatomy as the Basis for a Comprehensive System of Research." 



It is a remarkable fact that Dr. Ryder, in his active and versatile 

 career, never wrote an extended memoir. Everything he prepared for 

 the press was the direct outcome of the practical tasks upon which he 

 was officially engaged. 



His work in zoology ] was not large. Reference to the bibliography 

 shows that twelve papers maybe so classified. He once said: "The 

 species makers are caviare to me." But he himself did not escape the 

 fate of most biologists in the making of species. 



I have given my impressions of his disinclination to study species 

 elsewhere : 2 



Incompetent hands the elucidation of species is not, as it has oppro- 

 briously been said to be, a dullard's task of taking an inventory of na- 

 ture, but the study of the ultimate forms which those organisms assume 

 which breed true. The shifting of color schemes, the exhibition of the 

 effects of food and climate on size in whole or in parts, and of other 

 causes by which minute differentiations are started and maintained, 

 are of unending interest and worthy of the best powers of the nat- 

 uralist. If Ryder had been more closely identified than he was with 

 the careers of the great academicians who had preceded him it would 

 in no whit have detracted from the value of his philosophical labors. 

 One can not but regret, if for no other reason than for his health's 

 sake, that he discontinued those fruitful excursions to our woods, 

 ponds, and rivers, by which he contributed so notably to our micro- 

 fauna. 



While Dr. Ryder did not identify himself with zoology, his reputation 

 may be said to rest in great part upon his labors on the morphology of 

 the early stages of the development of fishes. This work, for the most 

 part, represents that accomplished by him as an expert on the Fish 

 Commission. His interest in the subject of the nature of species was, 

 however, a deep-seated one, and he was constantly reviewing masses 

 of data which he had accumulated in attempting to explain the tenets 



1 Dr. Ryder made a few. observations in physiological botany. Early in bis career, 

 viz, 1877, be noted tbe disposition of tbe tendrils of Cocculm indiciis to twine. (Proc. 

 A. N. S., 1877, 3.) In 1879 be observed tbe boney glands of tbe leaves of Calalpa, 

 and tbe habits of bees respecting them. (Proc. A. N. S., 1879, G; Pastime, 1881, II, 

 8; Am. Nat., 1878, 4.) 



2 Memorial pamphlet. 



