Alpheus Spring Packard Jr. LL.D. (February 19, 1839 – February 14, 1905) was an American entomologist and

palaeontologist 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 fossi ...

. He described over 500 new animal species – especially butterflies and moths – and was one of the founders of ''

The American Naturalist ''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance ...

''.Cockerell (1920)

Early life

He was the son of Alpheus Spring Packard Sr. (1798–1884) and the brother of William Alfred Packard. He was born in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

, and was Professor of

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

and

Geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

at Brown University in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, from 1878 until his death. He was a vocal proponent of Neo-

Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

during the

eclipse of Darwinism Julian Huxley used the phrase "the eclipse of Darwinism" to describe the state of affairs prior to what he called the "modern synthesis". During the "eclipse", evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles but relatively few biologists b ...

.Sorenson (1995)

Career & Works

His chief work was the classification and anatomy of

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s, and contributions to economic entomology,

zoogeography Zoogeography is the branch of the science of biogeography that is concerned with geographic distribution (present and past) of animal species. As a multifaceted field of study, zoogeography incorporates methods of molecular biology, genetics, mor ...

, and the

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

and metamorphoses of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s. Packard was appointed to the

United States Entomological Commission The United States Entomological Commission was established by an Act of Congress in 1877 as a department under the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories headed by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. The commission was created ...

in 1877 where he served with

Charles Valentine Riley Charles Valentine Riley (18 September 1843 – 14 September 1895) was a British-born American entomologist and artist. He was one of the first individuals to use biological pest control and authored over 2,400 publications. He convinced Congress ...

and

Cyrus Thomas Cyrus Thomas (July 27, 1825 – June 26, 1910) was an American ethnologist and entomologist prominent in the late 19th century and noted for his studies of the natural history of the American West. Biography Thomas was born in Kingsport, ...

.Mallis (1971) He wrote school textbooks, such as ''Zoölogy for High Schools and Colleges'' (eleventh edition, 1904). His ''Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of North America'' was published in three parts (1895, 1905, 1915, edited by T. D. A. Cockerell). 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.

Death

He died on February 14, 1905.

Writings

* ''Report on the insects collected on the Penobscot and Alleguash Rivers, during August and September, 1861, Sixth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture, Augusta, Maine (pp. 373-376)'' (1861) * ''Guide to the Study of Insects'' (1869; third edition, 1872) *
The Mammoth Cave and its Inhabitants
' (1872), with F. W. Putnam * ''Life-History of Animals'' (1876) * ''A Naturalist on the Labrador Coast'' (1891)
''Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution: His Life and Work''
(1901), French translation, 1903. *

Notes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

The entomological writings of Dr. Alpheus Spring Packard
* * *
Gallica
Two works by Packard
Brunoniana
Biography

On the phylogeny of the Lepidoptera. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 18 (465): 228-236 1895. 1839 births 1905 deaths American lepidopterists American naturalists American science writers Harvard University alumni Writers from Brunswick, Maine Appleton family Bowdoin College alumni Lamarckism Brown University faculty {{Paleontologist-stub