William More Gabb

William More Gabb (January 20, 1839 – May 30, 1878) was an American paleontologist, geologist, geographer, and ethnologist. He was elected in 1869 to the American Philosophical Society and in 1876 to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Quotes To most persons who have never been in the tropics, the term presents a vision of tangled jungles, endless climbing vines, and waving Arecaceae palms. Few think of broad swelling prairies and smiling meadows as compatible with a landscape below the Tropic of Cancer Cancer. But both exist in charming variety, not only in Captaincy General of Santo Domingo the favorite home of Columbus, but over much of our little known neighbor, the continent of South America. Article XVIII.—Notes on the distribution of the Vegetation of Santo Domingo The American Journal of Science and Arts 1871 102 https://books.google.com/books?id=bfcQAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA127 127–136 (quote from p. 127) During the somewhat more than two years spent by me in Costa Rica, over eighteen months were devoted to the study of the region, known as Cordillera de Talamanca Talamanca, about a sixth of the area of the Republic, and lying in its south east corner. In addition to this, I traversed the country, from ocean to ocean, several times between Limón and Puntarenas Punta Arenas, or Puntarenas; made an excursion into Nicoya and some lesser ones in the interiors, including visits to the two volcanoes of Irazú Volcano Irazú and Barva Volcano Barva. On the Geology of Costa Rica. Manuscript in library of U.S. Geological Survey, 47 leaves, 7 plates 1874; published as: Gabb, W. M. 2007 On the geology of the Republic of Costa Rica Revista Geológica de América Central 37 103–118 https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/454/45437344010.pdf (quote from p. 105; transcribed from the original manuscript by Oscar H. Lücke, Viviana Gutiérrez, & Geraldo Soto) In Costa Rica the Heliconius Heliconians frequent certain flowers, and pass over others of the same colour and same approximate size without noticing them. But the most marked case was of the large brilliant Morphos. My Indian servants always carried with them a fermented paste of maize flour, which they mixed with water to the consistency of gruel as a beverage. On our arriving at the side of a stream in a narrow gorge, invariably, within a few minutes after they opened a package of this paste, although there might not have been a butterfly in sight before, those most brilliant of their kind would come sailing up, always from leeward, and I have made some of my best catches in this manner. I have also caught them by baiting with a piece of over-ripe or even rotting banana. At other times they were almost unapproachable. They seem to live on fruits just merging into the state of rottenness. Sense in Insects—Drowned by a Devil-Fish Nature 17 432 1878 282 https://www.nature.com/articles/017282c0 Quotes about William More Gabb In 1864 he was sent by Josiah Whitney Whitney to explore northern California and southeastern Oregon, leaving the northern end of Upper Klamath Lake Klamath Lake June 20 and continuing in the field until the middle of October. During this season one of the slate peaks, believed to be nearly 10,000 feet in height and situated in the northeastern angle of Fresno County, California, between the forks of the San Joaquin River, was named Mount Gabb by Whitney. William Healey Dall, Biographical Memoir of William More Gabb 1839–1878 Biographical Memoirs of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences VI 347–361 1900 https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/gabb-william.pdf (quote from pp. 352–353; read before the NAS on November 18, 1908) External links Obituary. Prof. W.M. Gabb Nature July 11, 1878 18 285 https://books.google.ht/books?id=RDhGfkcbVrUC&pg=PA285 Category:1839 births Category:1878 deaths Category:Geographers from the United States Category:Geologists from the United States Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Paleontologists Category:People from Philadelphia