Adalbert Seitz

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Adalbert Seitz
A panel from "The Big Butterflies of the Earth"

Adalbert Seitz (born February 24, 1860 in Mainz ; † March 5, 1938 in Darmstadt ) was a German entomologist , doctor and traveler who specialized in researching butterflies (lepidopterology). He was director of the Frankfurt Zoological Garden and editor of the unfinished work Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde .

Life

Adalbert Seitz has been involved with butterflies since childhood and, after studying medicine and zoology , traveled around the world as a ship's doctor to collect and research the animals. In addition, he dealt with animal husbandry in zoos and the presentation of animals for visitors. On April 1, 1893, he became director of the Frankfurt Zoological Garden, but continued to research butterflies.

Frankfurt Zoological Garden

Seitz attached great importance to attractive show animals and good animal signage. He added the scientific names to the existing German names and added information such as breeding and migration times to the signs. Under his direction, a house for small mammals was built with flexible cages made of cubes with an edge length of 1 meter, the walls of which could be removed and which could be changed laterally and in height. In 1904 , a hall was built on the roof of the aquarium for reptiles and amphibians that were previously housed in the relatively dark and warm monkey house. Due to the construction similar to a greenhouse, the animals were able to sunbathe and only heated when needed. In the same year, prepared and live insects were shown together for the first time in a wooden house. A detailed signage brought the visitors closer to the life of the animals.

On March 31, 1908, he gave up the office of zoo director in order to devote himself more to butterfly research. He went on several collecting trips, mainly to the tropics.

Senckenberg Nature Museum

Seitz was the first paid curator of the entomological section at the Senckenberg Nature Museum in Frankfurt from 1919 until his death in 1938.

The big butterflies of the earth

The first volume of the 16-volume work The Macrolepidoptera earth appeared 1909. The First and Second World War and the Great Depression came to repeated delays and the last volume of unfinished work was not published until after Seitz 'death. The scope results from the four biogeographical regions Eurasia ( Palearctic ), America ( Neotropic and Nearctic ), Africa ( Afrotropic ) and Indo-Australian region ( Oriental and Australis ), for each of which there is a volume about butterflies , spinners (Bombycidae) and hawks (Sphingidae), owls (Noctuidae) and spanners (Geometridae) appeared. The text volumes appeared in German, English and French. The first volume was published by Lehmann Verlag in Stuttgart. He sold the project to Alfred Kernen, who published the other volumes in German and English. The very incomplete French edition ( Les Macrolépidoptères du globe ) was published by Le Moult in Paris. The volumes (including the illustrated books) of the German or English edition ( The Macrolepidoptera of the World ) cost around 10,000 euros in antiquarian books today .

Publications

  • Seitz, Adalbert; Schulze, Paul: The silk cultivation in Germany: A critical investigation / by Adalbert Seitz. With an appendix by Paul Schulze , Stuttgart, 1918, 320 pages
  • Seitz, Adalbert: Goyaz-Reise , part 1, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart, 1931, 66 pages
  • Seitz, Adalbert: Goyaz-Reise , part 2, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart, 1932, pages 67–128
  • Seitz, Adalbert: Five entomological days , Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart, 1934, 42 pages, from: Entomologische Rundschau , Volume 51, No. 4; 6; 7; 12; 16
  • Seitz, Adalbert: The large butterflies of the earth , Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart
Volume 1: Section 1, The large butterflies of the palaearctic fauna area, The palaearctic butterflies , 1909, 379 pages, with 89 colored plates (3470 figures)
Volume 2: Section 1, The large butterflies of the palaearctic fauna area, The palaearctic spinners and swarmers , 1912–1913
Volume 3: Section 1, The large butterflies of the palaearctic fauna area, The palaearctic owl-like moths , 1914
Volume 4: Section 1, The large butterflies of the Palaearctic fauna area, The spanner-like moths , 1915
Volume 5: Section 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The Large Butterflies of the American Fauna Area , 1907
Volume 6: Dept. 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The American Spinners and Swarmers , 1940, 1327 pages, 198 plates
Volume 7: Dept. 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The American Owls , 1923, 508 pages, 87 plates
Volume 8: 2 Abt. The exotic large butterflies, The American tensioner 1907, 144 pages, panels 16
Volume 9: Section 2, The exotic large butterflies, The Indo-Australian butterflies , 1927, 1197 pages 177 plates
Volume 10: Section 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The Indo-Australian Spinners and Swarmers , 1933, 847 pages, 104 plates
Volume 11: Dept. 2, The exotic large butterflies, The Indo-Australian owl-like moths , 1924, 1141 pages, 203 plates
Volume 12: Section 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The Indo-Australian Geometridae
Volume 13: Section 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The African Butterflies , 1925, 613 pages, 80 plates
Volume 14: Dept. 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The African Spinners and Swarmers , 1925–1930, 80 plates
Volume 15: Section 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The African Owl-Like Moths , 286 pages, 41 plates
Volume 16: Section 2, The Exotic Large Butterflies, The African Spanner-like Moths , 1929, 160 pages, 18 plates
Volume 1, Supplement: The Palaearctic Butterflies ,
Volume 2, Supplement: The Palaearctic Spinners and Swarmers
Volume 3, Supplement: The Palaearctic Owl-like Moths
Volume 4, Supplement: The tension-like moths
  • Seitz, Adalbert, Franz, Elli (eds.): As a natural scientist through all continents, travel reports by Prof. Dr. Adalbert Seitz , various b / w illus. W. Kramer, Frankfurt am Main, 1951, 351 pages

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zoo director in Frankfurt: Adalbert Seitz The friend of butterflies
  2. ^ Former zoo directors. Adalbert Seitz. Frankfurt Zoo, accessed on June 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Senckenberg - historical background
personal data
SURNAME Seitz, Adalbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entomologist, doctor and traveler
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 1938
Place of death Darmstadt