Charles T. Brues.
Professor William Morton Wheeler, With a List of His Published Writings.
Psyche 44:61-96, 1937.

Full text (searchable PDF, 3512K)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/44/44-061.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

PSYCHE
VOL. XLIV SEPTEMBER, 1937 No. 3
PROFESSOR WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER
Professor Wheeler was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 19, 1865 and died suddenly in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts on April 19, 1937 shortly after passing his seventy- second birthday. He had retired from active teaching in 1934, but was still energetically engaged in the continuance of his biological investigations which had extended, without interruption, over a full half century.
Young Wheeler was educated in Milwaukee, for a time in the public schools and afterwards in the Englemann German Academy. He was later graduated in 1884 from the German- American College, a remarkably efficient school, with ideals based on those of the fine group of early German immigrants whose culture dominated Milwaukee during the latter part of the last century. He always attributed much to the training received at the Academy ; perhaps too much, for he was certainly their star pupil of all time. There he received a broad education, and developed his first interest in the classics, which he read extensively, never forgot and referred to frequently in his later writings. At this point his formal education ended for a period of six years. Wheeler had always been much interested in Natural History, and was greatly delighted when in 1884 Professor H. A. Ward of Rochester brought to Milwaukee a collection of stuffed animals, skeletons, and other natural history specimens, with the idea of selling them in that city as the nucleus for a public museum. Ward was so pleased with Wheeler that he offered him a position in the Ward's Natural Science Establishment at Rochester. This was accepted Pu&e 4461-96 (1937). hup Ytpsychu einclub org/44/44-061.ht1r.l



================================================================================

62 Psyche [September
and Wheeler spent a year arranging zotilogical material of all kinds and identifying specimens for Professor Ward. At
that time he prepared a check-list of shells, so well done that it is still useful to conchologists after the lapse of more than fifty years ! At the Ward Establishment he met Carl Akeley, later famous taxidermist. Concerning their early associa- tion and life-long friendship Wheeler has written interest- ingly in his obituary of Akeley, published in 1927. This contains also reminiscences of Wheeler's own early youth. He left Ward's in 1885, returned to Milwaukee and at the invitation of the well-known entomologist, Dr. G. W. Peckham, who was then principal of the Milwaukee High School, accepted a position to teach German and physiology there. After he had taught in the high school for two years, he was made custodian of the newly established Milwaukee Public Museum where he remained until 1890. During this period there was established nearby the Allis Lake Labora- tory, a biological station, to which Professor C. 0. Whitman came as director. From contact with this laboratory and especially through the interest of one of its staff, Dr. William Patton, Wheeler was induced to undertake a study of insect embryology. With the help of Dr. Patton he mastered the necessary microscopical technique, procured a microtome and set to work, utilizing auch time as he could spare from his duties at the museum.
Professor Whitman was then called to dark University, and recognizing young Wheeler's genius in the problem he had undertaken, offered him a fellowship at Clark. This he
accepted in 1890 and two years later was granted the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for this "Contribution to Insect Embryology" which had its inception in the happy circum- stance of the establishment of the Allis Laboratory. The next year Wheeler spsnt in Europe, first at Wurziburg, then at the Naples Zotilogical Station and finally at Liege before returning to America. He then went to the University of Chicago, where he remained for five years, first as instructor in embryology andafter 1896 as assistant professor. During this period his interest in insect embryology was waning, and he became more interested in other phases of entomology. In the autumn of 1899 he accepted a position as Professor of Zoology in the University of Texas. There, with the aid



================================================================================

Psyche, 1937
From a photograph taken in 1915 by Professor A. L. Melander at Berkeley, California, during the summer meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.



================================================================================

64 Ps~& [September
search and for the training of students in the several branches of applied biology. At first the Bussey Institution formed a part of the Graduate School of Applied Sciences, but a few years later the institution staff was made a sepa- rate faculty of the University and Professor Wheeler was ap- pointed its dean. He served in this capacity from 1915 to 1929, He frequently spoke of this long stay at the Bussey as including the best years of his life. During that time he always had clustered about him some half a dozen graduate students working in entomology toward the degree of Doctor of Science, which was the applied science degree awarded by the "University to students in applied biology. Most of these students now hold responsible positions in colleges, univer- sities or similar institutions in America and abroad, and their consistently high attainments show very clearly the deep influence exercised by his remarkable intellect upon their subsequent careers.
In 1929 he resigned from the deanship and moved his work to Cambridge, pending' the completion of the New Biological Laboratories. No new dean was appointed, as the several biological units of the University were soon to be consoli- dated and made a part of the Facility of Arts and Sciences, with headquarters in the new building. There he spent his last years, continuing to teach until hia retirement in 1934. After that he still retained his same quarters in the labora- tory, where he worked continuously until the last day of his life, even more actively than before, since the time previously devoted to lectures and students could be spent qmn his own research. During this time his energy and enthusiasm never lagged and, as he told me only a few days before his death, he had already on hand collections of ants that would take him many years to work up. This, of course, did not take into account the many related biological problems that con- tinually arose in his mind in connection with taxonomic work. At that moment he was just finishing his last exten- sive manuscript dealing with mosaic anomalies in ants, an investigation which had unexpectedly developed from the study of some collections of ants recently received from the American tropics.
Most persons conversant with Professor Wheeler's pub- lished contributions to biological science and to entomology



================================================================================

19371 William Morton Wheeler 65
in particular, will regard these as his greatest achievements. There are, however, a favored few who have had the good fortune to derive from him, through personal contact, either as students or colleagues, a vast amount of information and inspiration which they will always treasure and some of which they will be able to pass on to their own students and younger associates. Wheeler always dealt with his students as he would with colleagues. With his broad intellectual viewpoint he could do this with ease, and without apparent effort he would quickly stimulate these young men to accom- plishments quite beyond their own expectations. He was always enthusiastically interested in his own work and how- ever deeply immersed in it, was always ready to welcome the student who wandered into his laboratory at any time. Fre- quently, such conferences would turn to an account of what he was doing at the moment or to a critical review of some important book which he had just read.
The immediate
effect of such contacts was frequently disheartening in the extreme, as it emphasized the extent of any biological prob- lem and the inadequate background of the young man who was attempting to solve it. However, the final result of a series of such meetings was highly salutary, and it gave to most of his students the impetus needed to complete their work well, and furthermore to prolong their studies after the inevitable doctor's thesis had been finished. This ability to instill his own ideals of research into the minds of younger men was a salient characteristic of his personality and it has done much to further the real advance of entomological in- vestigation in many fields.
To see him casually in his laboratory, working over a box of mounted specimens of ants and attaching to them labels with their Latin names, one would have taken him for a taxonomist pure and simple. Under such circumstances he was, and the endless amount of material from all parts of the world that passed through his hands during the thirty- five years that he was an authority on the classification of ants resulted in the description of an enormous number of new species, sub-species and varieties. Such work requires immense concentration, continuous study and perfect famil- iarity with a maze of literature. As a result most taxonomic workers lose interest in all the problems of general biology.



================================================================================

66 Psyche [September
Wheeler was a glaring exception to this rule as his encydo- paedic familiarity with the structure and adaptations of ants not only served to increase his interest and curiosity in the many other phases of biology, but enabled him to approach them with a minute, systematic knowledge of detail utterly beyond the common range. This method of approach is especially notable in connection with his papers on gynan- dromorphs in ants, the behavior of ant-lions and worm-lions, and his contributions on the evolution of social and parasitic habits among insects,
Professor Wheeler's thirst for reading was insatiable and as he read the several common European languages with great facility, the literary field in which he could browse was very wide. His interest in literature was almost exclusively serious although it was by no means restricted to entomol- ogy, biology or even to the natural sciences. It was, however, primarily confined to biology, psychology and philosophy in the widest sense, although few of his friends or colleagues were ever able to bring to his attention any book of general interest with which he was unacquainted. Most frequently he had read it through (which meant literally that) for although .he read with great rapidity, his very retentive memory allowed no details to be forgotten. In addition, a pencil in his hand was intermittently busy underlining sen- tencea or marking paragraphs to which he might wish later to refer. Similarly, every bundle of reprints that came to his desk, and there were a great many of these, was care- fully examined, first, to cull out any in which he could see nothing of interest. The others were read almost in their entirety.
He had such a keen sense of humor that he derived a great deal of fun from many books and dissertations that were not intended to furnish amusement. This undoubtedly made up in great part for the lack of light reading on his book-shelves. In company, however, he was very fond of a good story, and no matter what the subject, his conversation was always enlivened with a humor uniformly appealing to his wide range of friends and colleagues. When it came to the point, Professor Wheeler was extremely outspoken and he did not mince words in voicing either approbation or disapproval no matter to whom his remarks might be directed. He always



================================================================================

19371 William Morton Wheeler 67
spoke in good faith, however, and his opinions were almost always accepted in the spirit they were given. Much more could be said of Professor Wheeler's academic career and scientific writings. A fine appreciation written by several of his colleagues has appeared in Science.' He received several honorary degrees and medals in recognition of his entomological investigations. He enjoyed member- ship in numerous important societies ; honorary membership in three foreign and two American entomological societies. During his long residence at Harvard he took a leading part in the activities of the Cambridge Entomological Club and a continued interest in its journal PSYCHE to which he con- tributed several short articles in almost every volume. Wheeler was an unusually keen and enthusiastic collector. After the first few years, his immediate interest was cen- tered almost entirely on ants, but he never failed to bring back from any excursion many other valuable specimens. He traveled extensively through the United States, Mexico and other parts of tropical America and twice visited Australia ; also his visits to Europe and North Africa offered opportunities for collecting that were never neglected. He had returned from an extensive and strenuous trip with his wife into Mexico only a few weeks before his death. The list of titles in the appended bibliography is believed to be a practically complete list of Professor Wheeler's biological books, memoirs and papers. It has been compiled primarily from a catalogue which he himself maintained, and I have one of his younger students, Professor F. M. Carpenter to thank for preparing the preliminary draft during my own protracted absence from America. This bibliography speaks for itself as to the varied inter- ests and accomplishments of Professor Wheeler. It cannot
of course give any indication of the great clarity of his scientific statements and the fine literary style which per- vades all of his writings. From the latter standpoint alone several of his humorous and satirical addresses could lay claim to rank as classics. In addition each contains several cleverly concealed and well documented scientific pills which represent the real thesis of the communication. By far the 'June 4, 1937; vol. 85, pp. 533-535.




================================================================================

68 Psyche [ September
greater number of papers deal with ants, many with other social insects, a number with various types of parasitism and with evolutionary phenomena. Although nearly all relate to insects directly, only those concerned entirely with tax- onomy can be classed as strictly entomological in that they do not contain material of immediate interest to other biologists.
Among those who knew him personally or through his writings, he had a host of friends, almost no enemies, and certainly all regarded his intellectual accomplishments with an admiration that will never fade till they join him in the great unknown.
PUBLICATIONS OF WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER
1885
Catalogue of Specimens of Mollusca and Brachiopoda for Sale at Ward's Natural Science Establishment. Rochester, New York, 167 pp., 202 figs.
A List of Trees found in the City of Milwaukee. Proc.
Wisconsin Pharmaceut. Assoc., pp. 24-25. 1887
Distribution of Coleoptera along the Lake Michigan Beach of Milwaukee County. Proc. Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., April 1887, pp. 132-140.
1888
The Flora of Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin. Proc. Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., April 1888, pp. 154-190. The Spiders of the Sub-family Lyssomanae. (With G. W.
and E. G. Peckham).
Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sci., Arts and
Lett., vol. 2, pp. 222-256, 1 plate.
1889
The Embryology of Blatta germanica and Doryphora decemlineata. Journ. Morph., vol. 3, pp. 291-386, 7 plates, 16 figs.
Homologues in Embryo Hemiptera of the Appendages of



================================================================================

19371 William Morton Wheeler 69
the First Abdominal Segment of other Insect Embryos. American Naturalist, vol. 23, pp. 644-645. Ueber drusenartige Gebilde im ersten Abdominalsegment der Hemipterenembryonen. Zool. Anzeig., Jahrg. 12, pp. 500-504, 2 figs.
On Two Species of Cecidomyid Flies Producing Galls on Antennaria plantaginifolia. Proc. Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., April 1889, pp. 209-216.
Two Cases of Insect Mimicry. Proc. Wisconsin Nat. Hist. Soc., April 1889, pp. 217-221.
1890
Description of Some New North American Dolichopodidae. Psyche, vol. 5, pp. 337-343, 355-362, 373-379. The Supposed Bot-fly Parasite of the Box-turtle. Psyche, vol. 5, p. 403.
Review of Poulton's "Colors of Animals". Science, vol. 16, p. 286.
Hydrocyanic Acid Secreted by Polydesmus virginicus Drury.
Psyche, vol. 5, p. 442.
Review of R. H. Lamborn's "Dragon-Flies versus Mos- quitoes". New York, Appleton. Science, vol. 16, p. 284. On the Appendages of the first Abdominal Segment of Embryo Insects. Trans. Wisconsin Acad. Sci. Arts and Lett., vol. 4, pp. 87-140, 3 plates.
Note on the Oviposition and Embryonic Development of Xiphidium ensiferwn Scud. Insect Life, vol. 2, pp. 222-225. Ueber ein eigenthumliches Organ in Locustidenembryo. Zool. Anzeig., Jahrg. 13, pp. 475-480.
1891
The Embryology of a Common Fly.
Psyche, vol. 6, pp.
97-99.
The Germ-band of Insects. Psyche, vol. 6, pp. 112-115. Neuroblasts in the Arthropod Embryo. Journ. Morph., vol. 4, pp. 337-343,l fig.
Hemidiptera haeckelii. Psyche, vol. 6, pp. 66-67. 1892
Concerning the "Blood-tissues" of the Insects. Psyche, VO~. 6, pp. 216-220, 233-236, 253-258.
A Dipterous Parasite of the Toad. Psyche, vol. 6, p. 249.



================================================================================

70 Psyche [September
1893
A Contribution to Insect Embryology. Inaugural Disser- tation. Journ. Morph., vol. 8, pp. 1-160, 6 plates, 7 figs. The Primitive Number of Malpighian Vessels in Insects. Psyche, vol. 6, pp. 457-460, 485-486, 497-498, 509-510, 539-541, 545-547, 561-564, 2 figs.
1894
Synco3Lidium pellucidurn, a new Marine Triclad. Journ.
Morph., vol. 9, pp. 167-194, 1 plate.
Planocera inquilina, a Polyclad inhabiting the Gill cham- ber of Sycotypus canaliculatus. Journ. Morph., vol. 9, pp. 195-201, 2 figs.
Protandric Hermaphroditism in Myzostoma. Zool. Anzieg., vol. 6, pp. 177-182.
1895
The Behavior of the Centrosome in the Fertilized Egg of Myzostoma glabrum Leuck. Journ. Morph., vol. 10, pp. 305-311,lO text-figs.
Translation of Wilhelm Roux's "The Problems, Methods and Scope of Developmental Mechanics." Biological Lec- tures delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Summer Session of 1894. Boston, Ginn & Co., pp. 149-190.
1896
The Sexual Phases of Myzostoma. Mitth. a.d. Zool. Sta- tion zu Neapel, vol. 12, pp. 227-302, 3 plates. The Genus Ochthera. Entom. News, vol. 7, pp. 121-123. Two Dolichopodid Genera new to America. Entom. News, vol. 7, pp. 152-156.
A New Genus and Species of Dolichopodidae. Entom.
News, vol. 7, pp. 185-189, 1 fig.
A New Empid with Remarkable Middle Tarsi. Entom.
News, vol. 7, pp. 189-192, 3 figs.
An Antennif orm Extra-appendage in Dilop hus tibialis Loew. Arch. f. Entwick1.-Mech. d. Organism., vol. 3, pp. 261-268, 1 plate.
1897
A Genus of Maritime Dolichopodidae New to America. Proc. California Acad. Sci., vol. (3) 1, pp. 145-152, 1 pi. The Maturation, Fecundation and Early Cleavage of



================================================================================

19371 William Morton Wheeler 71
Myzostoma glabmm Leuckart. Arch. Biol., vol. 15, pp. 1-77, 3 pis
Two Cases of Mimicry. Chicago Univ. Record, vol. 2, p. 1. [Marine Fauna of San Diego Bay, California]. Zoological Club, Univ. of Chicago, meeting of April 14, 1897. Science, n.s., vol. 5, pp. 775-776.
1898
A New Genus of Dolichopodidae from Florida. Zool. Bull., vol. 1, pp. 217-220, 1 text-fig.
Burger and Carriere on the Embryonic Development of the Wall-bee (Chalicodoma) . American Naturalist, vol. 32, top. 794-798.
Review of A. S. Packard's "Text Book of Entomology". Science, n.s., vol. 7, pp. 834-836.
A New Peripatus from Mexico. Journ. Morph., vol. 15, pp. 1-8, 1 pi., 1 fig.
1899
George Baur's Life and Writings. American Naturalist, vol. 33, pp. 15-30.
The Life History of Dicyema. Zool. Anzeig., vol. 22, pp. 169-176.
Anemotropism and Other Tropisms in Insects. Archiv. fur Entwick1.-Mech. d. Organism., vol. 8, pp. 373-381. The Prospects of Zoological Study in Texas. Texas Uni- versity Record, vol. 1, pp. 335-339.
New Species of Dolichopodidae from the United States. Proc. California Acad. Sci., Zool., (3), vol. 2, pp. 1-84, 4 pis. The Development of the Urinogenital Organs of the Lam- prey. Zool. Jahrb. Abth. f. Morph., vol. 13, pp. 1-88, 7 pis. J. Beard on the Sexual Phases of Myzostoma. Zool. Anzieg., vol. 22, pp. 281-288.
Kaspar Friedrich Wolff and the Theoria Generationis. Biol. Lectures Marine Biol. Lab., Woods Hole, pp. 265-284. 1900
The Free-swimming Copepods of the Woods Hole Region. Bull. U. S. Fish Commission for 1899, pp. 157-192, 30 figs. On the Genus Hypocharassus Mik.
Entom. News, vol. 11,
pp. 423-424.
The Study of Zoology.
Univ. of Texas Record, vol. 2,
No. 2, pp. 125-135.




================================================================================

72 Psyche
[September
Review of Korschelt and Heider's "Text-book of Embry- ology". Science, n.s., vol. 11, pp. 148-149. The Female of Eciton sumichrusti Norton, with some notes on the habits of Texan Ecitons. American Naturalist, vol. 34, pp. 563-574,4 figs.
The Habits of Mgrmecophila nebruscensis Bruner. Psyche, vol. 9, pp. 111-115, 1 fig.