38 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXVII, 1920 
many of the principal museums of this country and Europe where conch- 
ology was stressed. Many private cabinets were also made beneficiaries 
of this work. 
Investigations on the fishes were mainly systematic in character. Part 
of the time spent along these lines was in conjunction with Prof. Seth 
E. Meek. He made a very complete collection of the fish fauna of the 
Des Moines river basin, which for some reason was never quite finished 
or published in full. A preliminary account appeared in the Proceedings 
of our Academy. He worked for several years on the fishes of New 
York. How complete this work was at the time of his death was not 
known. Much was done towards working out a better taxonomy of 
North American fishes. In a sirnilar way he was intensively taken up 
with improving the taxonomy of North American reptiles. The Fishes 
of the Ohio River was a magnificent volume and Call’s most complete 
work on the group. 
In the fields of botany important contributions were made to the 
knowledge of the hardwood forests of Arkansas, the ferns of the 
Ozarks, and the plants of Iowa. 
When residing in Eouisville, Call unearthed, among the historical doc- 
uments of the Filson Club of that place, the unpublished notes of that 
eccentric French naturalist, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, who for 
many years in the early part of the last century made America his home. 
In the “Eife and Writings of Rafinesque” Call set aright most of the old 
naturalist’s descriptions of invertebrates of the Mississippi Valley, which 
had long been the despair of systematists of later days. This sumptuous 
quarto volume was published by the Filson Club, and proved to be one 
of its most cherished publications. The monograph on the Mammoth 
Cave of Kentucky was a quarto tome, edition de luxe, sumptuously 
printed on deckle edge, antique wove, unsized paper and contained thirty 
plates. Its character was historic, scenic, biologic and bibliographic. 
Call’s was really a brilliant mind. Had he been set in a congenial 
environment and had he not been continually hampered by his teaching, 
which he was always forced to follow in order to gain a livelihood, he 
doubtless would have developed into one of the great naturalists of his 
country and perhaps of his day. His purse was always lean; and he 
could do little along purely scientific lines that he planned. Although 
genuinely generous many of his actions were often misinterpreted by 
those who did not know him very well. So preoccupied was his mind 
at times that he became very forgetful. Not infrequently he would 
borrow an armful of books from some friendl and the very next day 
he could not for the life of him tell to whom they belonged. On this 
account some of these books doubtless never got back to the original 
owners. It was. the same with specimens. Soon many persons began to 
judge him harshly. Really this was largely mistaken inference. On the 
other hand he was equally careless with his own property. Lending freely 
any of his books or specimens he promptly forgot by whom they were 
received; and it might be months before they turned up again. 
These things changed greatly after his marriage, which took place rather 
latfe in life. His absentmindedness grew noticeably ameliorated. At the 
same time his powers of concentration of mind visibly deteriorated. His 
