William Miles Maskell (5 October 1839 – 1 May 1898) was a New Zealand farmer, politician and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

Early life

Born in

Mapperton Mapperton is a hamlet and civil parish in Dorset, England, south-east of Beaminster. Dorset County Council estimated that the population of the parish was 60 in 2013. Parish The parish of Mapperton is comparatively small at . The population ...

, Dorset, England, to Mary Scott and

William Maskell William Maskell (1814–1890) was an English priest of the Church of England, liturgical scholar, and Catholic convert. Life He was only son of William Maskell, a solicitor of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, and his wife Mary Miles, born 17 May 181 ...

, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

clergyman, he attended school at St Mary's College in

Oscott Oscott is a Ward (country subdivision), ward in the northwest of Birmingham, England, within the Government of Birmingham, England#Districts, formal district of Perry Barr. The Ward is centred on the area known as Old Oscott, originally just "Os ...

, Birmingham, and later in Paris, before being commissioned an

ensign Ensign most often refers to: * Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality * Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to: Places * Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada * Ensign, Ka ...

in the

11th Regiment of Foot In music theory, an eleventh is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a fourth. A perfect eleventh spans 17 and the augmented eleventh 18 semitones, or 10 steps in a diatonic scale. Since there are only seven degrees in a diaton ...

with which he served for just under two years. He first came to New Zealand to Lyttelton, in 1860 aboard . He eventually became involved in the political campaigns of

Frederick Weld Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was an English-born New Zealand politician and colonial administrator of various British colonies and territories located in Oceania and Southeast Asia. He was the sixth Prime Minis ...

and Charles Clifford. He returned to England sometime between 1861 and 1863, but returned by September 1865, purchasing a property in Broadleaze near

Leithfield Leithfield is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand. It is on State Highway 1, south of Amberley and north of Christchurch and 11.8 kilometres north of Waikuku. The Leithfield area consists of two semi-distinct areas, Leithfield Bea ...

, Canterbury a short while after. He became registrar of the newly formed

University of New Zealand A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1876 and held this position until his death. Maskell was married to Lydia Cooper Brown on 15 September 1874 in two ceremonies, one

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and one

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. After Lydia's death in 1883, he married Alice Ann McClean in 1886.

Political career

In 1866, Maskell was elected to represent Sefton on the Canterbury Provincial Council, a position which he held until the provinces were abolished in 1876. He also served as provincial secretary and treasurer during the last year on the council. Maskell contested the Ashley electorate twice for a seat in the New Zealand parliament. On both occasions, first in the 1871 general election, and then in the 1876 general election, he was unsuccessful against

John Evans Brown John Evans Brown (16 February 1827 – 9 July 1895) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Born in Pennsylvania, he came to New Zealand after spending time in Australia, where he was a farmer and US Consul. He farmed in Canterb ...

. After this, he took no further active part in politics.

Entomology

Around 1873, Maskell became interested in

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

and wrote a book, ''An Account of the Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plants in New Zealand'', which mostly concerned pests in the

Coccoidea Scale insects are small insects of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient g ...

family. Later, as his work became more well known, he was sent insect samples from a variety of locations, including Asia,

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, Hawaii and the Americas, which resulted in him proposing over 330 species names. Maskell's personal collection of Coccoidea specimens which was regarded as scientifically significant and was acquired by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture. In 1906, at the request of Dr C.L Marlett, Assistant Chief of the United States Bureau of Entomology, the collection was loaned to the Bureau for study by Emily R. Morrison. The collection was returned to the New Zealand Department of Agriculture in 1922 and is now housed at the

New Zealand Arthropod Collection The New Zealand Arthropod Collection is a collection of terrestrial invertebrates held by Maanaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Auckland, New Zealand. It specialises in the taxonomy and identification of indigenous and exotic invertebrate sp ...

. Maskell particularly liked studying the internal

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

of insects, probably due to his fascination with

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

and

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view subjects too small to be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical mic ...

, and his work was also unique in that he studied immature stages of males and females as well as the mature females. After experimenting with

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

application, Maskell became an advocate of biological control of pests, which involves finding their natural

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s. He helped

Albert Koebele Albert Koebele (28 February 1853 - 28 December 1924) was an economic entomologist and a pioneer in the use of biological controls to manage insect pests. Early career Koebele was born in Waldkirch, Germany, in 1853. There are no details about ...

of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

collect vedalia "ladybird" beetles ( Rodolia cardinalis), a predator of

cottony cushion scale ''Icerya purchasi'' (common name: cottony cushion scale) is a scale insect that feeds on more than 80 families of woody plants, most notably on ''Citrus'' and ''Pittosporum''. Originally described in 1878 from specimens collected in New Zealand ...

, which had become a devastating pest of Californian

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

farms.Paul DeBach and David Rosen, ''Biological Control by Natural Enemies'' 2nd ed. 1991 p.141 In its native Australia this pest was kept in check (so F. S. Crawford found) by a dipterous fly

Cryptochetum iceryae ''Cryptochetum iceryae'', the cottony cushion scale parasite, is a species of scale parasite fly in the family Cryptochetidae. Originating in Australia, it was deliberately introduced to California in the 1880s in an attempt to control cottony cu ...

which injected its eggs into the scale insect, which was then devoured by the resultant

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e. Maskell also studied

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

and microscopic

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

, publishing more than 70 research papers on these topics. He was also a strong opponent of

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

and his arguments helped to shape several scientific debates of the time.

Death

Maskell died in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

on 1 May 1898 at his home from complications that arose after a serious operation. He was survived by his second wife, and he did not have any children.

Bibliography

An account of the insects noxious to agriculture and plants in New Zealand. The scale insects (Coccididæ)
Wellington, N.Z. State Forests and Agricultural Dept.,1887.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maskell, William Miles 1839 births 1898 deaths New Zealand farmers New Zealand entomologists Members of the Canterbury Provincial Council Members of Canterbury provincial executive councils Unsuccessful candidates in the 1871 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1875–1876 New Zealand general election People from West Dorset District English emigrants to New Zealand