E. O. Wilson.
William M. Mann.
Psyche 66(4):55-59, 1959.

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WILLIAM M. M A ~
1886-1960
From a photograph taken in October, 1956. Courtesy of the Smith sonian Institution and Mrs. Lucile Q. Mann. Piy-ftf (i<:55-61 (1959). hup //psych? emcluh org/6ÌöO6-05.5.htin



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PSYCHE
Vol. 66 December, I 959 No. 4
WILLIAM M. MANN
"Each day I would stroll along the beach to a new stream and follow it to a new part of the forest, in a continual state of exultation over the abundant and interesting specimens."
ANT HILL ODYSSEY
The intense enthusiasm with which William Mann undertook the exploration of remote insect faunas was the dominant note in his unusual and distinguished scientific career. As a young man embark- ing on a series of extensive collecting trips to Brazil, Mexico, the West Indies, the Middle East, the South Pacific, and other parts of the world, he openly sought personal adventure as a major reward of scientific endeavor. The "Ant Hill Odyssey", as he later signified it in the title of his autobiography, was never allowed to stagnate in the physical confinement and routine that sometimes make scholarly enterprise falsely seem less than a great adventure. This spirit he was able to transmit to younger entomologists, and it was responsible for the beginning of the career of more than one young field biologist. There would be little gain in attempting to recall here the events of Mann's crowded life already told so vividly in his autobiography. It may be noted that most of his entomo1o~icp.l field work was con- ducted while he was a graduate student, and then a Sheldon Travel- ling Fellow, at Harvard University during I 9 I I - I 7. As a student he served as Secretary of the Cambridge Entomological Club and Assistant Editor of Psyche. In 191 7 he received a joint appointment in the United States Department of Agriculture and National Mu- seum. In 1925 he fulfilled a 1if:long dream to become a zoo director when he succeeded Alexander Wetmore as head of the National Zoo- logical Park. His autobiographical account ends with his 1917 ap- pointment, but in fact the entomological odyssw never ended. As director of the national zoo, Mann made several major expeditions abroad to collect living animals and passed up no opportunity to gather insects, especially his beloved ants and ant-guests, on the side. Those privileged to know him in his later years could still sense the full ex-



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56 Psyche [December
citement of this continuing adventure in his wondrous after-dinner anecdotes of field trips around the world. A common story has it that Mann's faculty sponsor at Harvard, William Morton Wheeler, was at first keenly disappointed when he abandoned a full-time career as entomologist for zoo-keeping but soon became completely recon- ciled by his former student's obvious genius in the latter role. At the National Zoological Park, Mann was enormously successful. He de- veloped humane, new techniques in zoo culture and was responsible for the introduction of many new animals to zoo life. He was re- nowned for the wit and eloquence with which he sought, and success- fully obtained, the congressional appropriations needed to expand his zoo. His unfailing hospitality was extended to persons from all walks of life, and he had many close friends and an army of warm personal admirers. "Small in stature, puckish, bright-eyed and almost formally unkempt, Dr. Mann possessed a gentle wit which he used sparingly in public- lest it be considered unseemly in a scientist of his ac- knowledged standing. . . He became a familiar figure to thousands of Zoo patrons who brought away with them the charming memory of intimate little chats he was never too busy to hold with the least of his visitors."* When he died in his Washington home on October 10, 1960, at the age of seventy-four, the Ant Hill Odyssey perhaps seemed to many of his friends no more than a remote chapter in a colorful past. Yet it should not be forgotten that his early work produced major contributions that have actually gained in value with the pass- age of time.
Mann's collections of ants and myrmecophiles, which are the most significant parts of his general collections, are divided chiefly between the Museum of Comparative Zoology and the U. S. National Mu- seum. His entomological publications are based mostly on this ma- terial, a fact that gives them their exceptional value. Mann's collec- tions, especially those of ants made in the West Indies and South Pacific, were unusually thorough. Few men have been able to write taxonomic papers on tropical insect faunas with such an intimate first- hand knowledge of the ecology and faunal relationships of his study material. As a result, his larger monographs have been little improved on by later work and will undoubtedly remain primary references for years to come. The following bibliography includes as complete a list of Mann's technical entomological publications as could be assembled at this time. References to his well-known popular article on ants in the National Geographic and to his autobiography are also included. *The Washington Post, October 11, 1960,




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19591 Wilson - William M. .Mann 57
No attempt has been made to list his articles dealing with zoo culture, travel, and other popular topics.
E. 0. Wilson
Notes on the guests of some Californian ants. Psyche, 18 ( I ) :27-3 I. On some northwestern ants and their guests. Psyche, 18(3) :102- 109.
A third collection of Mallophaga from Alaskan birds. Ent. News, 23 :I 2-1 7. (With V. L. Kellogg) .
Mallophaga from islands off Lower California. Ent. News, 23 :56- 65. (With V. L. Kellogg).
Parabiosis in Brazilian ants. Psyche, 19 (2) :36-41. Note on a guest of Eciton hamatum Fabr. Psyche, 19(3) :g8-IOO. List of Histeridae and Buprestidae (Stanford Expedition to Brazil, 1911). Psyche, 19(4) :118-121.
A protective adaptation in a Brazilian membracid. Psyche, 19(5) : 145-147.
Literature for 1911 on the behavior of ants and myrmecophiles. J. Animal Behavior, 2(6) : 400-420.
Literature for 1912 on the behavior of ants and myrmecophiles. J. Animal Behavior, 3 (6) ~429-445.
Mallophaga from Brazilian birds. Psyche, 20 ( I ) :I 5-23. (With J. H. Paine).
Some myrmecophilous insects from Mexico. Psyche, 2 I (5 ) : I 72- I 84.
The ants of Haiti. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., JJ( I ) :I-61. (With W. M. Wheeler).




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5 8 Psyche
[December
1915
A new form of a southern ant from Naushon Island, Massachusetts. Psyche, 22 (2) :5 I.
A cursorial tick. Psyche, 22 (2) :6o.
Some myrmecophilous insects from Hayti. Psyche, 22 (5) :I 61 - 166. A gynandi-omorphous mutillid from Montana. Psyche, 22 ( 5 ) :I 78- I 80.
I 9 1 6
The ants of Brazil (Stanford Expedition to Brazil, 191 I ) . Bull. Mus. Comp. 2001. Harv., 60( I I ) :399-490, 7 plates. The ants of the Phillips Expedition to Palestine during 1914. Bull. Mus. Comp. 2001. Harv., 60(5) :167-174. (with W. M. Wheeler). Myrmecophilous insects from Cuba. Psyche, 25 (5 ) : 104-106. 1919
The ants of the British Solomon Islands. Bull. Mus. Comp. 2001. Harv., 63(7) :273-391, 2 plates.
1920
A pi-octotrypid inquiline with Formica exscctoides Forel ( Hym.) . Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., 22 (3) :59-60.
Ant guests from Fiji and the British Solomon Islands. Ann. Ent. SOC. Amer., 13 ( I ) :60-69.
Additions to the ant fauna of the West Indies and Central Ameri- ca. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 42(8) ~403-4-39. 192 1
The ants of the Fiji Islands. Bull. Mus. Comp. 2001. Harv., 64 (5 :401-499.
A new genus of termite guest from Fiji. Psyche, 28(2) :54-56. Three new myrrnec~~hilous beetles. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 59: 547-552.
1922
Notes on a collection of West African myrmecophiles. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 45:623-630.
Ants from Honduras and Guatemala. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 61 (13) :I-54.
1923
New genera and species of termitophilous Coleoptera from north- ern South America. Zoologica, J ( I 7) : 323-366.



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19591 Wilson - miam M. kfann 59
Two new ants from Bolivia. Psyche, 30 ( I ) :I 3- I 8. Two serphoid guests of Eciton (Hym.). Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., ^(9) :181-182.
A singular habit of sawfly larvae. Psyche, 30(1) :9-I 3. (With
W. M. Wheeler).
1 924
Myrmecophiles from the Western United States and Lower Cali- fornia. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer., 17 ( I ) :87-95. Notes on Cuban ants. Psyche, 31 ( I ) :I 9-2,3. 1925
Ants collected by the University of Iowa Fiji-New Zealand EX- pedition. Iowa Studies in Natural History, ~ ( 4 ) :5-6. Guests of Eciton hamatum (Fabr.) collected by Professor W. M. Wheeler. Psyche, 32 (3) :I 66-1 77.
New beetle guests of army ants. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 15(4) :73-77. I 926
Some new Neotropical ants. Psyche, 33(4-5) :97-107. Three new termitophilous beetles from British Guiana. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., 28(7) :I~I-155.
New Neotropical myrmecophiles. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 16( 16) : 448-45 5.
I 928
A new Microdon from Panama. Psyche, 35 ( 3 ) : I 68- I 70. 1929
Notes on Cuban ants of the genus Macromischa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) . Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., 31 (8) :161- 166. I931
A new ant from Porto Rico. J. Wash. Acad. Sci., 21 (I 7) :440-441. 1934
Stalking ants, savage and civilized. National Geographic Mag., 66 (2) :I7I-192.
193 5
Two new ants collected in quarantine. Psyche, 42 ( I ) :35-37. 1948
Ant Hill Odyssey. Little, Brown. (Autobiography).



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