154 
CALL’S GEOLOGICAL WORK 
the initial number of a Bulletin series of the Des Moines Academy 
of Sciences and found wide circulation. His shorter papers on 
Conchology were many and varied. The “Anatomy of Campe- 
loma” was a model of its kind, and was based entirely upon ma¬ 
terials obtained around Des Moines. 
The Unionidae of Arkansas formed a large illustrated memoir 
which was published by the St. Louis Academy of Sciences. 
One group of mollusks in which Call became very much inter¬ 
ested was the little known family of the Strepomatidse, turreted 
snails inhabiting southern rivers. The Coosa, Black Warrior, and 
Tombigbee rivers of Alabama in particular harbored these water 
snails. For a number of years he was accustomed to collect ex¬ 
tensively in these streams and their numerous tributaries. Isaac 
Lea, Thomas Conrad, Thomas Say and Constantine Rafinesque 
described many species but these were never very well defined; 
and a large synonomy resulted. It was our Iowa naturalist’s 
especial mission to pass in review all the described forms, to 
collect abundantly from all the original localities, and to adjudi¬ 
cate the numerous varieties in accordance with modern canons 
of taxonomy. This he was able to do in most satisfactory fashion. 
Having accomplished this gigantic task he generously sent typical 
and authenticated sets of the shells to many of the principal mu¬ 
seums of this country and Europe where conchology 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 ac¬ 
count appeared in the Proceedings of Iowa 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 similar way he^was intensely taken up 
with improving the taxonomy of North American reptiles. 
The “Fishes of the River Ohio” was a magnificent volume, and 
Call’s most complete work on the group. 
In the field of botany important contributions were made to 
a knowledge of the hardwood forests of Arkansas, the ferns of 
the Ozarks, and the plants of Iowa. 
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