PSYCHE 
Vol. 66 December, 1959 No. 4 
WILLIAM M. MANN 
“ Each day I would stroll along the beach to a new 
stream and follow it to a new part of the forest, in 
a continual state of exultation over the abundant and 
interesting specimens.” 
Ant Hill Odyssey 
The intense enthusiasm with which William Mann undertook the 
exploration of remote insect faunas was the dominant note in his 
unusual and distinguished scientific career. As a young man embark- 
ing on a series of extensive collecting trips to Brazil, Mexico, the 
West Indies, the Middle East, the South Pacific, and other parts of 
the world, he openly sought personal adventure as a major reward of 
scientific endeavor. The “Ant Hill Odyssey”, as he later signified it 
in the title of his autobiography, was never allowed to stagnate in 
the physical confinement and routine that sometimes make scholarly 
enterprise falsely seem less than a great adventure. This spirit he 
was able to transmit to younger entomologists, and it was responsible 
for the beginning of the career of more than one young field biologist. 
There would be little gain in attempting to recall here the events 
of Mann’s crowded life already told so vividly in his autobiography. 
It may be noted that most of his entomological field work was con- 
ducted while he was a graduate student, and then a Sheldon Travel- 
ling Fellow, at Harvard University during 1911-17. As a student 
he served as Secretary of the Cambridge Entomological Club and 
Assistant Editor of Psyche. In 1917 he received a joint appointment 
in the United States Department of Agriculture and National Mu- 
seum. In 1925 he fulfilled a life-long dream to become a zoo director 
when he succeeded Alexander Wetmore as head of the National Zoo- 
logical Park. His autobiographical account ends with his 1917 ap- 
pointment, but in fact the entomological odyssev never ended. As 
director of the national zoo, Mann made several major expeditions 
abroad to collect living animals and passed up no opportunity to gather 
insects, especially his beloved ants and ant-guests, on the side. Those 
privileged to know him in his later years could still sense the full ex- 
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