Henri de Saussure
Encyclopedia
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
– 20 February 1905 Geneva), was a Swiss mineralogist and entomologist specialising in studies of Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
and Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps...
. He also was a prolific taxonomist.
His elementary education was at Briquet
Briquet
Briquet may refer to:*Charles Moїse Briquet - Swiss paper merchant and scholar of watermarks.*Briquet fl. 1420, a Renaissance composer*Artois Hound or Briquet, a rare breed of dog, and a descendant of the Bloodhound...
then, at an advanced level at the Institute of Fellenberg. At Fellenberg he was taught by François Jules Pictet de la Rive
François Jules Pictet de la Rive
François Jules Pictet de la Rive was a Swiss zoologist and palaeontologist.He was born in Geneva. He graduated B. Sc. at Geneva in 1829, and pursued his studies for a short time at Paris, where under the influence of Georges Cuvier, de Blainville and others, he worked at natural history and...
who introduced him to entomology. After several years study in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
where he received the degree of licenciate of the Faculty of Paris and obtaining the degree Doctor from the University of Gießen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
.
He worked mainly on Hymenoptera and Orthoptera. His first paper, in 1852, was on solitary wasps.
In 1854 he travelled to the West Indies, then to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States of America. There he met Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
.
He returned to Switzerland in 1856 with collections of American insects, myriapods
Myriapoda
Myriapoda is a subphylum of arthropods containing millipedes, centipedes, and others. The group contains 13,000 species, all of which are terrestrial...
, crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s, birds and mammals.
Also interested in geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
he founded the Geographical Society of Geneva in 1858.
He was also a member of the managing committee of the Natural History Museum of Geneva
Natural History Museum of Geneva
The Natural History Museum of Geneva is a natural history museum in Geneva, Switzerland....
ensuring that its collections of Hymenoptera and Orthoptera became one of the best in the world.
In 1872 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Entomological Society of London
Royal Entomological Society of London
The Royal Entomological Society of London is devoted to insect study. It has a major national and international role in disseminating information about insects and improving communication between entomologists....
.
He had nine children including the famous linguist Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
, who was his eldest son, and René de Saussure
René de Saussure
René de Saussure was a Swiss Esperantist and professional mathematician, who composed important works about Esperanto and interlinguistics from a linguistic viewpoint...
.
Hymenoptera
- Études sur la Famille des Vespides. 1. Monographie des Guêpes solitaires, ou de la Tribu des Euméniens, comprenant la Classification et la Description de toutes les Espèces connues jusqu'à ce Jour, et servant de complément au Manuel de Lepeletier de Saint FargeauAmédée Louis Michel Lepeletier de Saint FargeauAmédée Louis Michel le Peletier, comte de Saint-Fargeau , also spelled Lepeletier or Lepelletier, was a French entomologist, and specialist in the Hymenoptera....
. Paris : Masson pp. 1–128 pls ii-v, vii, x, xiv (1852). - Note sur la tribu des Masariens et principalement sur le Masaris vespiformis. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (3)1: xvii-xxi (1853).
- Études sur la Famille des Vespides. 2. Monographie des Guêpes Sociales, ou de la Tribu des Vespiens, ouvrage faisant suite à la Monographies des Guêpes Solitaires. Paris : Masson pp. 1–96 pls 2-8, 13 (1853).
- Études sur la Famille des Vespides. Troisième Partie comprenant la Monographie des Masariens et un Supplément à la Monographie des Eumeniens. Paris : Masson pp. 1–48 pls i-v (1854).
- Études sur la Famille des Vespides. 2. Monographie des Guêpes Sociales, ou de la Tribu des Vespiens, ouvrage faisant suite à la Monographies des Guêpes Solitaires. Paris : Masson pp. 97–256 pls 9-12, 14-18, 20-24, 27-33 (1854).
- Études sur la Famille des Vespides. Troisième Partie comprenant la Monographie des Masariens et un Supplément à la Monographie des Eumeniens. Paris : Masson pp. 49–288 pls vi-xiv (1855).
- Études sur la Famille des Vespides. Troisième Partie comprenant la Monographie des Masariens et un Supplément à la Monographie des Eumeniens. Paris : Masson pp. 289–352 pls xv-xvi (1856).
-Mélanges hyménoptérologiques. Extrait du Tome XIV des "mémoires de la Société de Physique etc. Genève, Cherbuliez, Paris, Masson. 1854.
- Mélanges hyménoptérologiques. Mém. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Genève 17: 171-244 (1863).
- Hymenoptera. In, Reise der österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859 den unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair. Zoologischer Theil. Wien : K-K Hof- und Staatsdrückerei Vol. 2(1a). 138 pp. (1867).
Orthoptera
- Essai d'un système des Mantides. Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 3: 49-73 (1869).
- Additions au système des Mantides. Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 3: 221-244 (1870).
- Mélanges Orthoptérologiques. Fasc. 3. Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Genève 21(1): 1-214 (1871).
- Mélanges Orthoptérologiques. Fasc. 3. Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Genève 21(1): 1-214 (1871).
- Mélanges Orthoptérologiques. Supplément au IIIme Fascicule. Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Genève 21(1): 239-336 (1871).
- Mélanges Orthoptérologiques. Fasc. 4. Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Genève 23: 1-160 (1872).
- with Auguste Bormans, comte de, Lawrence BrunerLawrence BrunerLawrence Bruner was a United States entomologist.-Biography:...
; Frederick Du Cane Godman, Osbert SalvinOsbert SalvinOsbert Salvin FRS was an English naturalist, best known for co-authoring Biologia Centrali-Americana with Frederick DuCane Godman. This was a 52 volume encyclopedia on the natural history of Central America....
, Albert P Morse, Alphonse Pictet, Robert WalterRobert WalterRobert John Walter MP , is the Conservative Member of Parliament for North Dorset in south west England. He was re-elected for a fourth term in 2010 with a much increased majority.-Early life:...
, Campbell Shelford, Leo Zehntner Biologia centrali-americana. Insecta. Orthoptera London, Published for the editors by R.H. Porter 1893-1909. - Saussure, H. de & Zehntner, L. Histoire naturelle des Blattides et Mantides. pp. 147–244 in *Grandidier. A. (ed.) Histoire Physique, Naturelle et Politique de MadagascarMadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
. Paris : Librairie Hachette et Cie Vol. 23 Orthoptères (1895).