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Psyche 4:107-109, 1883.

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November-December iSS3.1 p-<> TCfiB. 107 TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN LAWRENCE LECONTE. BY CHARLES VALENTINE RILEY, WASHINGTON, D. C. Dr. John Lawrence LeConte died at
his residence in Philadelphia, 15 Nov.
1883. Nothing that we can say will
render the memory of. him more lasting
or more dear, for he achieved pre-
eminence in his chosen field of labor
and won the love and respect of all who
knew lihn.
LeConte was born in New York, 13
May 1825, and was graduated M. D. by
the College of physicians and surgeons
in 1846. He moved to Philadelphia
some years later, and after his marriage abandoned the practice of medicine.
He was lieutenant-colonel and medical
inspector in the United States army dur- ing the civil war and, from 1878 till the time of his death, chief clerk in the
United States mint at Philadelphia.
Luckily for Ainericrtn natural science
his fortune was such that, with these
two exceptions, he held no positions,
but was abie to devote his time to ento- mology. His chosen specialty was the
coleoptera, and in order to fully appre- ciiite the magnitude of the work which
he accomplished and the difficulties
with which he had to contend, it is
necessary to consider the state of ento- mology in this country as compared
with Europe at the time he began to
write, now almost forty years ago.
Great activity at that time prevailed in Europe in all branches of entomology.
In descriptive coleopterology Aub6,
Erichson. Germitr, Khig, Lacordaire,
Mannerheim, Mtilsant, Schonherr, Ser-
ville, Solier, Stephens and others were
active at that period. Others equally
eminent had died shortly before and
many came into promiiieiice shortly
afterward. Naturalists there were aided
as well by the large number of skilled
and enthusiastic amateurs who furnished
an abundance of material and observa-
tions, as by the numerous large libra-
ries, public museums and private collec- tions to which they had access. Numer-
ous entomological societies also brought the workers together, gave stimulus and
encouragement and oflkecl ready means
of publisliing.
How different the circumstances in
America at that time! In the whole
country there were no more persons
scientifically interested in entomology
than could be found in a single large
city of Europe. The larger libraries
were scant of entomological literature
and there were neither standard nor
public collections and but few private
collections, of limited size. The most
important of the older collections, viz., that made by Thomas Say, had been
irretrievably lost through carelessness
and indifference, while other valuable
collections had shared no better fate.
Contributions to die- knowledge of our
coleopterotis fauna consisted chiefly of disconnected descriptions of single spe- cies scattered thiuugh all sorts of publi- cations. "Can it be wonclered at,"
LeConte wrote in one of his earliest
papers, "that there is so much confusion Psyche 4 107.110 fp-IYOlj, hllp://pyche.enlcluh ore/414-107.hlmI



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108 PSYCHE. [~ovember-~ecember 1683.
about the synonymy of our species,
when they are published in every coun-
try of the globe, but in that in which
they ought to be published?" The
thankless task of identifying and cor-
rectly interpreting these descriptions,
involving so much labor and patient
study, was performed almost alone by
LeConte, and so well that but few spe-
cies of the older authors remain to-day
unidentified. LeConte clearly saw from
the beginning that American coleopte-
rology could not be so much advanced
by mere descriptions of new species and
genera as by conscientious monographic
work. The number of such monogra-
phic and synoptic papers published by
him was great. Of special importance
among his earliest papers are those on
the pselafhidae; cm. the classification
of the longicorsi coleoptera, and of the carahidue; on the elateridae and on the
melolonthidae. In 1861 his "Classifica-
tion of the coleoptera of North Amer-
ica," prepared for the Smithsonian in-
stitution, began to appear. This work,
though left incomplete until recently,
was indispensible to every student of
systematic coleopterology, and neces-
sitated the publication of the "New
species of North American coleoptera"
and the '^List of the coleoptera of North America," both issued by the Smithso-
nian institution.
His entomological writing was inter-
rupted during the civil war, but was
resumed again in 1865. From this time
on he had the cooperation of Dr. George
Henry Horn, who, from the beginning
of his entomological career, was a faith- ful co-laborer with LeConte. Indeed the
friendship and cooperation that always
existed between these two specialists is one of the most pleasing and instructive incidents in the history of American
entomology. LeConte must have felt
proud of the excellent work done by the
younger naturalist, and the manner in
which Horn's more advanced views and
often more thorough labors- made pos-
sible by accumulated knowledge and
material - were accepted, even where
they undid much of his previous descrip- tive work, was one of the truest marks
of greatness in LeConte. The most
important papers of this later period
are those on tile classification of the
rhynchophorous coleoptera, and more
especially "The rAywcAo@ora of Amer-
ica north of Mexico," by John L. Le-
Conte, assisted by George H. Horn,
published in 1876 as vol. 15 of the Pro- ceedings of the American philosophical
society: a work which involved years
of patient research and the value of
which has not yet been fully recognized
abroad. The last important work is the
second and completed "Classification of
the coleoptera of North America," by
LeConte and Horn.
The list of Dr. LeConte's entornolo-
gicat writings has been carefully corn-
piled (up to 1878) by Mr. George Dim-
mock, in his Special biblography, no. I, and the actual amount of his descriptive work is well illustrated in Mr. Samuel
Henshaw's "Index to the coleoptera
described by J. L. LeConte, M. D."
Ail additional paper by LeConte, to be
published in the Transactions of the
American entomological society, was
about to be published at the time of his



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death, so that he may virtually be said
gical club of that association, -he took to have died in harness.
an active part in the attempt to bring
This brief reference to his published about uniformity of terminology and the papers reflects but feebly the character adoption of some general rules of no- and value of LeConte's life and work. rnenclatnre. He prepared, in conjunc- Throughout his writings there is the
tion with the' writer, a memorial which
..,.,
' evidence of a calm, dispassionate, well- in 1875 was signed by many members
balwced asid philosophic mind, which,
of the association praying Congress for
added to their accuracy, made him from
the creation of a special entomological
an early day the leading authority on
commission on a plan that would have
'North American beetles the world over. been in many respects preferable to that Beginning when the idea of fixity of
upon which the United States entomo-
specific type was general, he easily fol- logical commission was finally created
lowed theadvance of evolutionary ideas, in 1877. conforming his litter work thereto, ac- LeCoute's taste for natural science quiesdng and assisting in the ^sinking" was evidently inherited, and the family of Ins early bpecies founded on too tri- name is honored by several eminent
' fling variations. scientists still living in this couiitry and His lion-entomological writings evince all of them, we believe, not very re- culture, bre:idth of view and that rarest motely connected. His father was a
of qualities in specialists, common sense. distinguished naturalist, and we were
He was not of the clit~s who tiecry the
astonished at the beauty and accuracy
practical application of knowledge as
of many of his yet unpublislied drawings ignoble, but he felt rather that such iip- and paintings of animals which the son
plication to man's wants is one of the .once showed us. aims of science. Thus he was always
Few contemporary naturalists were
interested in the economic bearings of
better or more favorably known abroad
his favorite study and made several than Dr. LeConte, and he was the first most valuable suggestions in his "Hints American elected to honorary mernber- for the promotion of eco̤omi entomo- ship of the Entomological society of logy in the United States" and his France. "Methods of subduing insects injurious At a time when there was no national to agriculture."
museum, before Dr. Horn had earned
He was likewise for some years ac-
the fame he so richly deserves, and
lively- interested in endeavors to elevate when the A I ~ I ican entomological SO-
the United States Department of agri-
ciety showed no promise of being able
culture, and was a candidate for the
to appreciate or properly care for his
office- of commissioner in 1877. As yolwibie collection Dt. LeConte be- of the Americiin association
queathed it to the Museum of coinpara-
, for the advancement of science in 1874, five zoology, at Cambridge, where in
and the first president of the Entornolo- Dr. Hagen's care it will form the most




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110 p.!?Yci%?!?. [November-December 1883. precious systematic part of the Entomo-
logical department. When will our
National museum fully warrant its name
by becoming the one legitimate and
most satisfactory repository of all such collections in whatever branch of sci-
ence ?
In closing this brief notice of one
whose personal relations and whose ap-
preciative and instructive correspon-
dence with the writer during the past
fifteen years will ever remain a green
and pleasant memory, we would empha-
size the fact that his writings throughout breathe a calm and judicial spirit, void of personality.
The only instance that
occurs to us where he gave expression
to ruffled feeling is in the LbSynopsis of the coleopterous insects of the group
cleridae which inhabit the United
States" (Annals lyceum nat. hist. N.Y.,
April 1849, v. 5, p 9-35). In the
prelude to this paper he indulges in
some severe reflections on the exclusive attitude of the Latin or South European
countries toward the scientists of other countries. more particularly as exem-
plified by Spinola's work-reflections
not altogether unwarranted even at the
present time.
GILLS OF INSECT-LARVAE.
BY GEORGE MACLOSKIE, PRINCETON, N. J.
The gills of aquatic larvae of insects
consist of elastic sacs arising as out-
growths of the epidermis and enclosing'
a system of fine branches from the air-
tubes or tracheae, being thus pneumatic
branchiae. They vary greatly in the
number of the sacs, in the number and
complexity of the enclosed air- tubes,
and in their position. In the elmidue
(of coleoptera) they are simple and
are distributed ventrally on the abdo-
men ; in Ephemera (of neuroptera) they
are also simple, and extend from the
sides of the abdomen ; sometimes they
are caudal appendages, and in the
libelluliahe, or dragon-flies, they be-
come complex, having in some cases
many sac-like lamellae, and many hun-
dreds of branches in each, the whole
structure planted within the rectum,
from the walls of which the lamellar
sacs open like so many pockets.
These structures have been described
by R&uinnr, L6on Dufour, Audouin,
Oustalet,l and many others. Our' pres-
ent purpose is to rectify an error in
their %natomy, as usually represented,
which has important bearings on other
questions.
It is usual to describe the laminae of
the pneumatic gills as containing sys-
tems of fine tracheal loops, somewhat
after the pattern of a plurality of carbon- wicks in an Edison lamp. Oustalet
says, for example, in the Annales des
sciences naturelles (1869, s. 5, v. I I), that the branchial laminae binclude a
veritable chevelu of tracheae folded on
themselves so as never to reach the
extremity of the fingers of the glove ;" and that they serve as a loose sheath
1 Ann. des sci. nat., Zool., 1852, s. 3, v. 17; 1862, s. 4, v.17; 1869,s.S, v.11; 1872, s.5,~. 16.
,




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