Herbert Huntingdon Smith
Encyclopedia
Herbert Huntingdon Smith (1851, Manlius, New York
- 1919, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
) was an American naturalist
who worked on the flora
and fauna
of Brazil
. He wrote Brazil, the Amazons and the coast (C. Scribner's Sons, 1879) and Do Rio de Janeiro a Cuyabá: Notas de um naturalista (1922).
He first went to Brazil in 1870 on the Morgan expedition led by Charles Frederick Hartt
. He returned to stay in Santarém
from 1874 to 1876, and then spent a year exploring the Amazon
and Tapajós
Rivers.
Back in the United States, he began working for Scribner's Magazine
, writing on Brazil and frequently returning, once with the artist James Wells Champney
. In 1880 he married Amelia "Daisy" Woolworth, also a naturalist. They lived in Brazil until 1886, travelling widely and visiting Paraguay
but spending most time at Chapada dos Guimarães
, where intensive collecting (especially of insects) resulted in the discovery of many new species. After a few months in Rio de Janeiro
, they returned to the United States.
The insect collections were purchased by William Jacob Holland
and Frederick DuCane Godman
. In 1889 Smith collected in Mexico for Godman, the results appearing in Biologia Centrali-Americanum.
He was then commissioned by the Royal Society
to collect in the West Indies (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
,
Trinidad
and the Windward Islands
, 1889–1895). He then became Curator at the Carnegie Museum.
In 1898-1902 he collected in Colombia
for the American Museum of Natural History
, resuming curatorship of the Carnegie Museum on his return.
The couple then moved to Alabama, where they gathered freshwater and land mollusks to supply a "Shell Syndicate" consisting mainly of private collectors. Herbert Smith's abilities were eventually recognized by Eugene A. Smith, the State Geologist of Alabama, and he was hired on as Curator of the Alabama Museum of Natural History
in 1910.
The very many new species
collected by Herbert Huntingdon and Daisy W. Smith were described by Frederick DuCane Godman and Herbert Druce
(Lepidoptera
); Samuel Wendell Williston
(Diptera
); William Harris Ashmead
and Ezra Townsend Cresson
(Hymenoptera
); George Charles Champion
(Coleoptera); Philip Reese Uhler
and William Lucas Distant
(Hemiptera
).
Smith's death was tragic. On his walk to work at the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the deaf naturalist, who had recently endured a bout of influenza, was hit by a train. The spot on the University of Alabama
campus was known for many years as "Smith's Crossing."
Some of Smith's papers are preserved in the collections of the Geological Survey of Alabama. Unfortunately, the current whereabouts of his field notes are unknown.
. Usually called Daisy, she was the daughter of New York missionaries. The couple had one son.
Manlius (town), New York
Manlius is a town in Onondaga County, east of the city of Syracuse, New York, United States. The population was 32,370 at the 2010 census, making it the third largest suburb in metropolitan Syracuse...
- 1919, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
) was an American naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
who worked on the flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. He wrote Brazil, the Amazons and the coast (C. Scribner's Sons, 1879) and Do Rio de Janeiro a Cuyabá: Notas de um naturalista (1922).
He first went to Brazil in 1870 on the Morgan expedition led by Charles Frederick Hartt
Charles Frederick Hartt
Charles Frederick Hartt was an Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist who specialized in the geology of Brazil.-Exploration in Brazil:...
. He returned to stay in Santarém
Santarém, Pará
-External links:*...
from 1874 to 1876, and then spent a year exploring the Amazon
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
and Tapajós
Tapajós
The Tapajós, a Brazilian river running through a humid and hot valley, pours into the Amazon River 500 miles above Pará and is about 1200 miles long.It rises on the lofty Brazilian plateau near Diamantino in 14 degrees 25' south latitude...
Rivers.
Back in the United States, he began working for Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...
, writing on Brazil and frequently returning, once with the artist James Wells Champney
James Wells Champney
James Wells Champney was an American genre and portrait painter.He was born in Boston and first studied wood engraving there, then went to Europe and studied at the Antwerp Academy and under Edouard Frère in Paris...
. In 1880 he married Amelia "Daisy" Woolworth, also a naturalist. They lived in Brazil until 1886, travelling widely and visiting Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
but spending most time at Chapada dos Guimarães
Chapada dos Guimarães
Chapada dos Guimarães is a county and a mountain range located in central Brazil, 62 km from the city of Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso State. This range is surrounded by Brazilian savannas and the Amazon rainforest. Many people travel to see the wildlife, waterfalls and canyons in the...
, where intensive collecting (especially of insects) resulted in the discovery of many new species. After a few months in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, they returned to the United States.
The insect collections were purchased by William Jacob Holland
William Jacob Holland
William Jacob Holland was the eighth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. He was an accomplished zoologist and paleontologist, as well as an ordained Presbyterian minister.-Life:Holland was born August 16, 1848 in Jamaica, West Indies, the...
and Frederick DuCane Godman
Frederick DuCane Godman
Frederick DuCane Godman D.C.L., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., M.R.I., F.R.H.S., M.B.O.U. was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist....
. In 1889 Smith collected in Mexico for Godman, the results appearing in Biologia Centrali-Americanum.
He was then commissioned by the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
to collect in the West Indies (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....
,
Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
and the Windward Islands
Windward Islands
The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies.-Name and geography:The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the...
, 1889–1895). He then became Curator at the Carnegie Museum.
In 1898-1902 he collected in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
for the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, resuming curatorship of the Carnegie Museum on his return.
The couple then moved to Alabama, where they gathered freshwater and land mollusks to supply a "Shell Syndicate" consisting mainly of private collectors. Herbert Smith's abilities were eventually recognized by Eugene A. Smith, the State Geologist of Alabama, and he was hired on as Curator of the Alabama Museum of Natural History
Alabama Museum of Natural History
The Alabama Museum of Natural History is the state's natural history museum, located in Smith Hall at the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. The oldest museum in the state, it was founded in 1831. The exhibits depict the natural diversity of Alabama from the Age of Dinosaurs, the Coal Age,...
in 1910.
The very many new species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
collected by Herbert Huntingdon and Daisy W. Smith were described by Frederick DuCane Godman and Herbert Druce
Herbert Druce
Herbert Druce, FLS was a British entomologist.His collections were acquired by Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin before being bequeathed to the Natural History Museum, London....
(Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
); Samuel Wendell Williston
Samuel Wendell Williston
Samuel Wendell Williston was an American educator and paleontologist who was the first to propose that birds developed flight cursorially , rather than arboreally . He was also an entomologist, specialising in Diptera.-Early life:Williston was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Samuel Williston and...
(Diptera
Diptera
Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...
); William Harris Ashmead
William Harris Ashmead
William Harris Ashmead was an American entomologist born on 19 September 1855 at Philadelphia. He died 17 October 1908 at Washington D.C.After his studies in Philadelphia, Ashmead worked for the publisher J. B. Lippincott Co. Later, he settled in Florida where he formed his own publishing house...
and Ezra Townsend Cresson
Ezra Townsend Cresson
Ezra Townsend Cresson, also Ezra Townsend senior was an American entomologist who specialised in Hymenoptera. He wrote Synopsis of the families and genera of the Hymenoptera of America, north of Mexico Philadelphia: Paul C. Stockhausen, Entomological printer and many other works. His son Ezra...
(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...
); George Charles Champion
George Charles Champion
George Charles Champion was an English entomologist specialising in the study of beetles. He was the eldest son of George Champion....
(Coleoptera); Philip Reese Uhler
Philip Reese Uhler
Philip Reese Uhler was an American librarian and entomologist who specialised in Heteroptera.-Biography:...
and William Lucas Distant
William Lucas Distant
William Lucas Distant was an English entomologist.-Biography:Distant was born in Rotherhithe, the son of a whaling captain Alexander Distant...
(Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...
).
Smith's death was tragic. On his walk to work at the Alabama Museum of Natural History, the deaf naturalist, who had recently endured a bout of influenza, was hit by a train. The spot on the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
campus was known for many years as "Smith's Crossing."
Some of Smith's papers are preserved in the collections of the Geological Survey of Alabama. Unfortunately, the current whereabouts of his field notes are unknown.
Amelia (Daisy) W. Smith
Herbert Smith's collections were, following his marriage, made jointly with his wife Daisy, an expert collector, specimen preparator; and taxidermistTaxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
. Usually called Daisy, she was the daughter of New York missionaries. The couple had one son.
External links
- http://www.ecologia.edu.mx/azm/documentos/88/88f-Papavero.PDF