Ralph Diipiiy Lacoc. — Haydcn. 341 
early ; Alargaret Clary, now Mrs. I. S. White, of Rock Island, 
Illinois ; Ralph Dugue, of West Pittston, and William Clary, 
who died young. 
Mr. Lacoe was a devout Christian, baptized by Rt. Rev. 
Wm. B. Stevens, LL. D., 1866, confirmed by him in St. 
James' church, Pittston, and for many years a member of the 
vestr}'. He was also, in 1883, one of the organizers, and for 
years junior warden and treasurer of Trinity church, ^Vest 
Pittston. He w-as a loyal and generous churchman, liberal in 
his gifts, and faithful to the dear mother by whose beautiful 
ritual he was laid to rest. Mr. Lacoe was also a generous pro- 
moter of the Pittston Library, and in many ways, known only 
to the few, he delighted to aid and assist worthy objects in his 
town, and worthy young men to better things and nobler lives. 
Mr. David White, honorary curator of Paleozoic plants 
(Lacoe Collection), U. S. National Museum, and an intimate 
personal friend of Mr. Lacoe, writes thus enthusiasticallv of 
Mr. Lacoe's relations to science. 
"By the death of Mr. Lacoe science and scientists have Ir.st a 
worthy and devoted friend of rare quality and strength of character. 
Mr. Lacoe's position in the scientific world was somewhat inuisual. He 
was an authority on the geology of the northern anthracite coal I eld ; 
his extensive knowledge in the domains of fossil plants and fossil in- 
sects -was recognized on hoth. sides of the Atlantic ; his experience and 
observations were well supplemented by reading, and his opinions, 
'vhether concerning the structure and correlation of the Wyoming Valley 
coals or touching the problems of systematic paleontology, were often 
sought and always liighl}' valued by specialists in paleozoology and 
paleobotany. Yet he never published more than one short article; he 
never described a single genus or species. So modest and unassinning 
was he, so small an estimate had he of his own aliility and attain- 
ments, and so wholly wanting was he in the love of the notoriety of 
authorship, that he transferred to others for description and publica- 
tion the new genera and species which he, while posing as a layman, 
was an expert in detecting. Always desiring that the fossils in his 
collection should be systematically labelled at the hands of the highest 
American authorities on the subject, he was accustomed, even to the 
last, to submit his specimens to others for study and determination. 
Even among the numerous representatives of the commonest and most 
easily recognized species, there are in his great collection comparatively 
few specimens whose labels show hiipself to have been the authority 
for their determination, although in the latest years of his studies of 
fossil plants he was himself fully competent, as far as knowledge and 
experience are concerned, to have determined, described and published 
the greater part of his paleobotanical material. 
