Thomas Belt (183221 September 1878), an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and naturalist, was born at

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

in 1832, and educated in that city. He is remembered for his work on the geology of gold bearing minerals, glacial geology, and for his description of the mutualistic relationship between certain bullthorn ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus nam ...

'' species and their ''

Pseudomyrmex ''Pseudomyrmex'' is a genus of stinging, wasp-like ants in the subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae. They are large-eyed, slender ants, found mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the New World. Distribution and habitat ''Pseudomyrmex'' is predom ...

'' ants.

Early life

As a youth Belt became actively interested in natural history through the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club. In 1852 he went to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and for about eight years worked at the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

-diggings, where he acquired a practical knowledge of ore deposits. In 1860 he proceeded to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

to take charge of some gold-mines, and there met with a serious injury, which led to his return to England. In 1861 Belt issued a separate work entitled ''Mineral Veins: an Enquiry into their Origin, founded on a Study of the Auriferous Quartz Veins of Australia''. Later on he was engaged for about three years at

Dolgelly Dolgellau () is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) ...

, another though small gold-mining region, and here he carefully investigated the rocks and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s of the Lingula Flags, his observations being published in an important and now classic memoir in the ''Geological Magazine'' for 1867. He was elected in 1866 a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.

Nicaragua

In 1868 he was appointed to take charge of some mines in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

, where he passed four active and adventurous years the results being given in his ''The Naturalist in Nicaragua'' (1874), a widely regarded work.

Henry Walter Bates Henry Walter Bates (8 February 1825, in Leicester – 16 February 1892, in London) was an English naturalist and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the rainforests of ...

gave assistance and supervised the book's printing by the publishing house J. Murray. In this volume the author expressed his views on the former presence of

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s in Nicaragua. In this book, he also first described the mutualistic relationship of certain Acacias and the ant we now know as '' Pseudomyrmex spinicola''. These are a species of red

myrmecophyte Myrmecophytes (; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes. These plants possess structural adaptations that provide ants with food and ...

-inhabiting

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

s which are found only in

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. They live in the thorns of a tropical tree, '' Acacia collinsii'', feeding on

nectaries Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualist ...

along with the protein and

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids in ...

-rich pods produced by the plant for the ants and now known as Belsian bodies (or Beltian bodies) in honor of Belt. In subsequent papers Belt dealt boldly with the phenomena of the glacial period in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and in various parts of the world.

Death and burial

After many further expeditions to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, he was traveling to Colorado for a professional engagement when he fell suddenly ill and died in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, on 21 September 1878, at the age of 45. He was buried there in the Riverside Cemetery in Denver.

Notes

References

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External links

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The naturalist in Nicaragua
(London, J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd, 1911) {{DEFAULTSORT:Belt, Thomas English geologists English naturalists English nature writers Scientists from Newcastle upon Tyne 1832 births 1878 deaths