﻿'2-22 
  Samuel 
  Wendell 
  Williston. 
  

  

  species, 
  although 
  he 
  cared 
  little 
  for 
  the 
  name 
  of 
  a 
  form 
  or 
  

   who 
  gave 
  it 
  so 
  long 
  as 
  he 
  "knew 
  what 
  he 
  was 
  talking 
  

   about. 
  ' 
  ' 
  His 
  work 
  was 
  mainly 
  on 
  the 
  flies 
  of 
  North 
  Amer- 
  

   ica, 
  although 
  some 
  from 
  Central 
  and 
  South 
  America 
  were 
  

   touched 
  upon. 
  His 
  principal 
  general 
  work 
  was 
  a 
  pri- 
  

   vately 
  printed 
  Synopsis 
  of 
  the 
  Families 
  and 
  Genera 
  of 
  

   North 
  American 
  Diptera, 
  80 
  pages, 
  1888, 
  followed 
  by 
  a 
  

   second 
  edition 
  of 
  220 
  pages 
  in 
  1896, 
  and 
  a 
  third 
  of 
  405 
  

   pages 
  in 
  1908, 
  the 
  latter 
  two 
  being 
  known 
  as 
  manuals. 
  

   This 
  work, 
  always 
  authoritative, 
  is 
  looked 
  upon 
  in 
  its 
  final 
  

   form 
  as 
  the 
  standard 
  on 
  North 
  American 
  flies. 
  

  

  Williston 
  published 
  but 
  six 
  minor 
  papers 
  on 
  recent 
  

   zoology, 
  mainly 
  on 
  the 
  habits 
  of 
  certain 
  animals 
  and 
  birds 
  

   which 
  came 
  casually 
  under 
  his 
  observation. 
  Of 
  compar- 
  

   ative 
  anatomy 
  as 
  such 
  there 
  were 
  but 
  two, 
  although 
  his 
  

   entire 
  paleontological 
  work 
  is 
  of 
  that 
  nature. 
  Three 
  

   reports 
  on 
  sanitation, 
  especially 
  river 
  pollution, 
  appeared 
  

   in 
  1888-1890, 
  while 
  he 
  was 
  health 
  officer 
  of 
  the 
  city 
  of 
  New 
  

   Haven. 
  Five 
  times 
  he 
  was 
  called 
  upon 
  to 
  pay 
  tribute 
  to 
  

   departed 
  colleagues, 
  while 
  five 
  more 
  papers 
  refer 
  almost 
  

   exclusively 
  to 
  mankind, 
  one 
  of 
  them 
  dealing 
  with 
  his 
  

   Central 
  Asiatic 
  origin, 
  the 
  other, 
  on 
  the 
  finding 
  of 
  an 
  

   arrowhead 
  with 
  the 
  remains 
  of 
  Bison 
  occidentalis, 
  being 
  

   one 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  unshakable 
  bits 
  of 
  evidence 
  for 
  the 
  con- 
  

   temporaneity 
  of 
  man 
  and 
  extinct 
  animals 
  in 
  North 
  Amer- 
  

   ica. 
  

  

  Of 
  geology 
  (stratigraphy), 
  but 
  twelve 
  papers 
  treat 
  

   exclusively, 
  the 
  authorship 
  of 
  one 
  of 
  which 
  he 
  shares 
  with 
  

   Professor 
  Case. 
  Williston 
  speaks 
  mainly 
  of 
  the 
  Kansas 
  

   Chalk, 
  the 
  Niobrara 
  Cretaceous 
  and 
  the 
  Pleistocene 
  of 
  

   Kansas, 
  and 
  the 
  Red 
  Beds 
  of 
  Kansas 
  and 
  the 
  Southwest, 
  

   Such 
  geological 
  work 
  as 
  he 
  did 
  has 
  high 
  value, 
  but 
  Wil- 
  

   liston 
  could 
  hardly 
  be 
  considered 
  a 
  stratigrapher 
  of 
  note 
  

   because 
  of 
  the 
  paucity 
  of 
  his 
  contributions 
  along 
  that 
  line. 
  

  

  Evolutionary 
  problems 
  arose 
  from 
  time 
  to 
  time 
  in 
  his 
  

   work, 
  though 
  few 
  of 
  his 
  papers, 
  except 
  his 
  incompleted 
  

   book 
  on 
  the 
  reptiles, 
  deal 
  exclusively 
  with 
  that 
  depart- 
  

   ment 
  of 
  research. 
  

  

  To 
  the 
  reviewer, 
  Williston 
  's 
  work 
  in 
  paleontology 
  nat- 
  

   urally 
  makes 
  the 
  greatest 
  appeal, 
  and 
  indeed 
  it 
  consti- 
  

   tuted 
  nearly 
  one-half 
  of 
  his 
  entire 
  number 
  of 
  titles 
  and 
  

   of 
  his 
  entire 
  literary 
  output, 
  for 
  out 
  of 
  something 
  more 
  

   than 
  four 
  thousand 
  printed 
  pages, 
  seventeen 
  hundred 
  

   referred 
  to 
  fossil 
  vertebrates 
  ; 
  but 
  one 
  invertebrate 
  paper, 
  

  

  