RECORD HERALD, 
iJEJjENA.^ 
Nov, 10, 
MONT • 
1948 
Page Six 
Dr. William Mann, Native Helena Man, 
Has Written Recollections of 
Boyhood Days Into “Ant Hill Odyssey” 
William M. Mann, native Helena 
man has written many of his rec¬ 
ollections of Helena residents and 
events into his new book, “Ant 
Hill Odyssey,” released Nov. 9 by 
the publishers, Little Brown & 
Co., Boston, and they make in¬ 
teresting reading. He is well 
known to many present residents 
of the city and is visited annually 
by several who find themselves in 
Washington. 
These vivid reminiscences 1 of 
the director of the National 
Zoological park, Smithsonian In¬ 
stitution, range widely over the 
face of the earth and the interests 
of man. Dr. Mann, beloved figure 
in Washington, is a leader among 
natural scientists and a constant 
adviser to government and private 
naturalists, as well as a popular 
host and reaconteur. He is one of 
the most enthusiastic circus fans 
in the United States. He is a 
technical adviser to Ringling 
Brothers, and he helps with the 
huge Shriner’s circus every year. 
He is an adviser as well to the 
National Geographic society. 
Mann was born in 1886, the 
son of a Helena, Mont., harness- 
maker, who was also an amateur 
taxidermist and collector. He 
started his first bug collection at 
the age of four and before he was 
12 he was trading bugs with the 
leading entomologists of the east. 
Not long after he reached that 
ripe age he applied for and re¬ 
ceived a job as animal man in 
the Ringling circus, but Charles 
Ringlmg persuaded him to give 
it up and get an education. A 
formal education had no appeal 
for Mann, but he found he could 
not understand the technical jour¬ 
nals to which he had subscribed 
without more background. He at¬ 
tended Washington State college 
and graduated from Stanford in 
1911. 
student, but his work was inter¬ 
rupted by a trip to Haiti for 
snakes and ants, and by another 
trip to Mexico for hummingbird 
moths. He trekked over the des¬ 
ert of Arabia, visited Auguste 
Forel in Switzerland and return¬ 
ing again to Harvard, soon left for 
the Pacific isles. He did achieve 
his doctorate from Harvard' in 
Dr. William M. Maim 
1915. These trips were the begin- ' 
ning of many zoological explora- 1 
tions that have taken Mann to ' 
the West Indies, tropical America, 
Asia, Africa, Australia, South ( 
Pacific islands, and the Nether¬ 
lands Indies. He has been di- i 
rector of the national zoo for the 
past 23 years. 
At college he became acquaint¬ 
ed with some of the leading nat¬ 
uralists of the time. One of these 
hired him to collect beetles in 
Arizona, and later urged him to go 
to Harvard for his doctorate. First, 
however, Mann went to Brazil j 
with the Stanford expedition hunt¬ 
ing ants, wasps and beetles. Then 
he went to Harvard as an ento- ; 
mological assistant as well as a I 
