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Samuel Hubbard Scudder (April 13, 1837 – May 17, 1911) was an American
entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...
and
paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...
. He was a leading figure in entomology during his lifetime and the founder of insect paleontology in America. In addition to fossil insects, he was an authority on butterflies (
Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described specie ...
) and grasshoppers (
Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshop ...
).


Biography

Scudder was born on April 13, 1837, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Scudder and Sarah Lathrop (Coit) Scudder. His father was a successful merchant, and both parents had Puritan roots dating back to the founding of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
in the 1620s. He was raised in a strict Calvinist Congregational household.Leach (2013) One of his younger brothers, Horace Scudder, became a noted author and editor of the ''Atlantic Monthly'',Cockerell (1911) while his niece
Vida Dutton Scudder Julia Vida Dutton Scudder (1861–1954) was an American educator, writer, and welfare activist in the social gospel movement. Early life She was born in Madurai, India, on December 15, 1861, the only child of David Coit Scudder (of the Scudder f ...
was a writer and social activist. Scudder attended
Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
, and then enrolled in
Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was killed i ...
in 1853 at the age of 16. He studied with naturalist Paul Chadbourne and geologist
Ebenezer Emmons Ebenezer Emmons (May 16, 1799October 1, 1863), was a pioneering American geologist whose work includes the naming of the Adirondack Mountains in New York as well as a first ascent of Mount Marcy. Early life Emmons was born at Middlefield, Massa ...
. Under their influence, Scudder developed an interest in natural history, especially entomology. He became an ardent collector of butterflies in the nearby Berkshire Hills.Mallis (1971) By the age of 19, Scudder was committed to pursuing a career studying insects.Mayor (1919) Scudder graduated from Williams in 1847 at the head of his class. He then entered the
Lawrence Scientific School The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...
at Harvard to study under
Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...
, the most influential scientist in America at the time. After studying with Agassiz for four years, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1862, and then continued to work for Agassiz for another two years. Around this time,
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
's theory of evolution was strongly debated in American scientific circles. Agassiz remained a staunch opponent of evolution, while Scudder, after initially siding with Agassiz's view, came gradually to accept Darwin's theory and build it into his entomological work.Sorensen (1995), pp. 198-204 Scudder became a leading figure in American entomology, and was especially noted for his work with grasshoppers (Orthoptera), butterflies (Lepidoptera), and insect paleontology.Smithsonian Although he made significant contributions in all these areas, many of his contemporaries felt Scudder was most notable for his study of grasshoppers. He was a world authority on Orthoptera classification, biology, and distribution. In 1862, he wrote his first paper on the topic, describing 115 new species.Essig (1931) During his career he wrote 180 papers on grasshoppers and described 106 genera and 630 species. Willis Blatchley said, "to him cuddermore than to all his predecessors and contemporaries combined is due our present knowledge of the Orthoptera."Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008) In 1889 Scudder completed his monumental treatise, ''Butterflies of the Eastern United States and Canada'' incorporating 30 years of work on the physiology, life history, distribution, and classification of butterflies. This publication cemented his reputation as a leading lepidopterist of his day, and remained a standard and influential work for many years. In addition to numerous scientific papers, Scudder also wrote several popular accounts of butterflies for the general public. In 1865, Scudder wrote his first paper on fossil insects, ''Devonian Insects of New Brunswick''. After the Civil War, the extensive explorations of the
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States government. The scientists of the USGS study th ...
(USGS) led to the discovery of many fossil insects. From 1886 to 1892, Scudder was employed as the staff paleontologist to analyze and publish these findings for the USGS. His extensive work was summarized in ''The Fossil Insects of North America'' (two volumes, 1890) and in 1891 he prepared a valuable index of the fossil insects of the world. Scudder eventually described more than 1100 new species of fossil insects, and wrote 122 papers on the subject. Beginning in 1862, Scudder had a long association with the
Boston Society of Natural History The Boston Society of Natural History (1830–1948) in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the ...
, where he served in various roles, including recording secretary, librarian, custodian, vice president (1874-1880), and president (1880-1887). He also worked as an assistant librarian at Harvard from 1879 to 1882, and held the office of librarian for the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
. His interest in librarianship and bibliography led him to compile and publish in 1879 a catalog of scientific serials of all countries from 1633 to 1876. He also published ''Nomenclator Zoologicus'' (1882–1884), a seminal and comprehensive list of all generic names in zoology, including insects. In his other contributions, Scudder was co-founder of the Cambridge Entomological Club and its journal ''Psyche'' (1874); general secretary of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...
(1875), and vice president (1894); cofounder, editor, and guide of the
Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Ma ...
(1878); first editor of ''
Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' magazine; (1883–1885) and USGS paleontologist (1886–1892). He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1878. In 1867, Scudder married Ethelinda Jane Blatchford, who died in 1872. Their only son, Gardner, was close to his father and accompanied him on many of his field trips. Gardner died of tuberculosis in 1896. At about the same time, Scudder first showed signs of
Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms beco ...
, and by 1902, his disability forced him to retire. He gave his personal insect collections to the
Museum of Comparative Zoology A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
at Harvard and his library to the Boston Society of Natural History. He died in Boston on May 17, 1911, after several years of seclusion.


Works

Scudder was a prolific writer, publishing 791 papers between 1858 and 1902. His primary focus was the descriptive taxonomy of insects and insect fossils. He also wrote about insect biogeography and paleobiogeography, insect behavior, ontogeny and phylogeny, insect songs, evolution, and insect biology. In addition to his scientific works, Scudder also wrote several popular books and articles on butterflies. Some of his more notable titles include: * ''Nomenclator Zoologicus'' (1862) * ''Butterflies: Their Structure, Changes, and Life Histories'' (1881) * ''Butterflies of the Eastern United States and Canada'' (1889) * ''The Fossil Insects of North America'' (two volumes, 1890) * ''Index to the Known Fossil Insects of the World'' (1891) * ''Tertiary Rhynchophorous Coleoptera of the United States'' (1893) * ''The Life of a Butterfly'' (1893) * ''Frail Children of the Air: Excursions into the World of Butterflies'' (1895) * ''Revision of the Orthopteran Group Melanopli'' (1897) * ''Everyday Butterflies'' (1899) * ''Catalogue of the Described Orthoptera of the United States and Canada'' (1900) * ''Adephagous and Clavicorn Coleoptera from the Tertiary Deposits at Florissant, Colorado'' (1900) * ''Index to North American Orthoptera'' (1901)


Notes


Additional references

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External links


Samuel Hubbard Scudder Open Library

The writings of Samuel Hubbard Scudder (1879) by George Dimmock

A classed and annotated bibliography of fossil insects (1890) by S.H. Scudder


{{DEFAULTSORT:Scudder, Samuel Hubbard 1837 births 1911 deaths American paleontologists American lepidopterists Scientists from Boston Harvard University alumni Williams College alumni