66 
Psyche 
[September 
Wheeler was a glaring exception to this rule as his encyclo- 
paedic familiarity with the structure and adaptations of ants 
not only served to increase his interest and curiosity in the 
many other phases of biology, but enabled him to approach 
them with a minute, systematic knowledge of detail utterly 
beyond the common range. This method of approach is 
especially notable in connection with his papers on gynan- 
dromorphs in ants, the behavior of ant-lions and worm-lions, 
and his contributions on the evolution of social and parasitic 
habits among insects. 
Professor Wheeler’s thirst for reading was insatiable and 
as he read the several common European languages with 
great facility, the literary field in which he could browse was 
very wide. His interest in literature was almost exclusively 
serious although it was by no means restricted to entomol- 
ogy, biology or even to the natural sciences. It was, however, 
primarily confined to biology, psychology and philosophy in 
the widest sense, although few of his friends or colleagues 
were ever able to bring to his attention any book of general 
interest with which he was unacquainted. Most frequently 
he had read it through (which meant literally that) for 
although he read with great rapidity, his very retentive 
memory allowed no details to be forgotten. In addition, a 
pencil in his hand was intermittently busy underlining sen- 
tences or marking paragraphs to which he might wish later 
to refer. Similarly, every bundle of reprints that came to 
his desk, and there were a great many of these, was care- 
fully examined, first, to cull out any in which he could see 
nothing of interest. The others were read almost in their 
entirety. 
He had such a keen sense of humor that he derived a great 
deal of fun from many books and dissertations that were not 
intended to furnish amusement. This undoubtedly made up 
in great part for the lack of light reading on his book-shelves. 
In company, however, he was very fond of a good story, and 
no matter what the subject, his conversation was always 
enlivened with a humor uniformly appealing to his wide 
range of friends and colleagues. When it came to the point, 
Professor Wheeler was extremely outspoken and he did not 
mince words in voicing either approbation or disapproval no 
matter to whom his remarks might be directed. He always 
