Adolf Horion

Adolf Horion (born July 12, 1888 in Hochneukirch ; † May 28, 1977 in Überlingen ) was a German Roman Catholic clergyman and entomologist . He was a respected coleopterologist far beyond Germany .

Life

Adolf Horion came on July 12, 1888 as the second of seven children of the rent manager Jakob Horion and his wife Maria Cäcilia, née. Pesch in Hochneukirch Kreis Grevenbroich to the world. There he also attended elementary school, later the grammar schools in Mönchengladbach and Rheydt . According to his own statements, his interest in nature was not aroused or encouraged by school, but was innate. His mother was always close to nature. His main interest at the time was not entomology , but botany . He kept a herbarium early on, but collected everything that aroused his interest. He himself reports: "There (near Hochneukirch near Mönchengladbach), when I was eight or nine years old, I caught my first poplar goats , which were the first beetles that I added to my" insect collection " along with butterflies and bumblebees ; skewered large goats and placed in "Hoffman's strength" cans. "

From 1907 to 1910 Horion studied Catholic theology in Cologne and Freiburg i. Br. , Where he became a member of the Catholic student union KDStV Hercynia in the CV , according to other sources also in Bonn .

On August 11, 1911, he was ordained a priest in Cologne and then received his first job as a chaplain in Overath in the Bergisches Land . He became a member of the Stuttgart Natural History Association and from that time collected systematically. In the winter of 1912 he also made contact with the Cologne Entomologists Association. In 1913 he became a beneficiary in Overath and started a butterfly farm. He carried on with the desire to study science, which was finally approved by his superior church office. The outbreak of war, however, thwarted his plans, and Horion concentrated entirely on pastoral work (youth work, magazine). In February 1919 he suffered frostbite during a pastoral outreach, which led to an ear disease and, in the following years, to hearing loss . In 1919 Horion was transferred to Wersten near Düsseldorf , and in the spring of 1923 he came to Tenholt near Erkelenz as the parish rector .

From 1925 Horion dealt with botany and other branches of the natural sciences again , in 1927 he became a member of the Rhenish coleopterologists and began his scientific collecting activity, during which he was sensitized to faunistic questions early on. In 1929 he was transferred to Libur near Cologne and his first publications on molehill beetles and salt beetles appeared . In 1934/35 he worked on the addendum to Edmund Reitter's Fauna Germanica .

In 1936, Horion and Privy Councilor Carl Bosch agreed that Horion should start a work on Germany's Beetles that went beyond a simple directory. To this end, he spent nine months at the German Entomological Institute Berlin-Dahlem in 1937, working on the faunistic data from the Berlin museums. He obtained further material by sending questionnaires to German coleopterologists.

In 1938, at the age of 50, Horion retired early, on the one hand in connection with his hearing loss, on the other hand due to tensions with the NSDAP . The move to Dusseldorf followed, where Horion continued his intensive coleopterological work. From 1939 he worked on faunistics, which was to become his life's work. In the autumn of 1941 the first volume of the Faunistik was self-published. As with the following volumes, Horion made every possible effort to have the volumes printed at an affordable price. Because of this 1st volume, Horion became the first winner of the Fabricius Medal in 1942 . This medal is awarded annually by the German Entomological Society in memory of Prof. Johann Christian Fabricius for the best entomological work of the previous year.

In 1942 the relocation to Überlingen , which was difficult due to the war, took place , as the apartment in Düsseldorf had become unusable due to an air mine . The extensive collection remained in Düsseldorf for the time being, where it fell victim to the air raid on June 15, 1943. Only with the help of well-known coleopterologists was it possible to build up a new, extensive collection in the period that followed. Horion was happy that he had already brought his faunistic documents safely to Überlingen. He now devoted himself fully to coleopterology. In 1948 he was appointed a corresponding member of the Association for Natural Scientific Local Research in Hamburg , followed in 1950 by the faunistic publication on the discontinuous east-west distribution of Central European beetles. Horion enjoyed European recognition and received numerous honors in quick succession.

• 1954 Corresponding member of the Society for Natural History in Württemberg, Stuttgart,
• 1954 Award of an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Tübingen in Überlingen, certificate on July 11, 1954, Rector Franz Arnold; Dean Eugen Müller.
• 1955 Appointment as Corresponding Member of the Finnish Entomological Society Helsinki.
• 1957 Appointment as monsignor (papal secret chamberlain) by Pope Pius XII. Certificate of Appointment Ex Aed. Vat., April 18, 1957, Segreteria di Stato di Sua Santita
• 1957 honorary member of the Entomological Society in Stockholm
• 1958 honorary member of the Natural History Association of the Rhineland and Westphalia, Bonn
• 1958 honorary member of the working group of Rhenish coleopterologists, Bonn
• 1959 Appointment as a corresponding member of the Entomological Society, Lund . Certificate: Lund on January 31, 1959, Karl H. Lindroth, President; Bengt-Olof Landin, secretary.

This was followed in 1963 by the appointment of Horion as an honorary member of the Munich Entomological Society in Munich and in 1971 as an honorary member of the Entomological Society in Stockholm. On September 1, 1975 Horion received the award for outstanding performance in entomology in Lunz am See , Austria (diploma with medal: Lunz am See, September 1, 1975, H. Aspöck; Hofrat M. Beier; H. Malicky). During all this time the work on faunistics continued, always threatened by financial problems and always generously supported. Despite the high workload, Horion took time not only for the specialist colleague, but for everyone who was looking for advice. He also continued to serve as a pastor in the Kneipp hospital in Überlingen. Until his death he did the daily service of the early mass in the nurses' home in the Seeburg near Überlingen. Adolf Horion died on May 28, 1977 at the age of 89 in his house in Überlingen. His scientific legacy passed into the care of the State Museum for Natural History Stuttgart in Ludwigsburg.

Services

He not only collected and evaluated the knowledge about the beetles of Central Europe, but also checked and supplemented the information personally. For the first time he not only examined the parts of Germany in which a beetle occurs, but also the historical development of the occurrence, how beetles spread or disappear. He found explanations for the distribution patterns of certain species. Distribution area and biotope, which Edmund Reitter added to the identification tables as small print, were the subject of his investigations and thus gave coleopterology a new quality. In doing so, however, he did not limit himself to desk work, but was infected by his enthusiasm in contact with his fellow human beings and won many new disciples in coleopterology. The esteem he enjoyed from specialist colleagues is outlined by a few quotes:

Outstanding researcher personality in German coleopterology

Old masters in coleopterology

Patriarch in the science of Central European beetle science

First servant in the state of coleopteran faunistics

Father of Scientific Faunistics

The "Monsignor"

The great old man

Passionate fellow human being and pastor

Nestor of our sciencia amabilis

The most important publications

• Addendum to FAUNA GERMANICA, Die Käfer des Deutschen Reiches by Edmund Reitter , Hans Goecke Verlag, Krefeld 1935
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. I, Adephaga - Caraboidea. , Kommissionsverlag Goecke, Krefeld 1941
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. II , Klostermann, Frankfurt 1949
• Beetle studies for nature lovers , Klostermann, Frankfurt 1949
• Directory of beetles in Central Europe , Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart 1951
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. III, Malacodermata, Sternoxia (Elateridae - Throscidae). , Self-published by Museum Frey, Munich 1953
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. IV, Sternoxia (Buprestidae), Fossipedes, Macrodactylia, Brachymera. , Self-published by Museum Frey, Tutzing near Munich 1955
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. V, Heteromera , Tutzing 1956
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. VI, Lamellicornia , Kommissionsverlag Buchdruckerei Aug. Feyel 1958
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. VII, Clavivornia, Part 1, (Sphaeritidae to Phalacridae). , Commission publisher Buchdruckerei Aug. Feyel 1960
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. VIII, Clavicornia II , Verlagdruckerei PH. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1961
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. IX, Staphylinidae, Part 1 Micropeplinae to Euaesthetinae , Commission publisher, Buchdruckerei Aug. Feyel 1963
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. X, Staphylinidae, Part 2 Paederinae to Staphylininae , Publishing House PH. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1965
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. XI, Staphylinidae, Part 3 Habrocerinae to Aleocharinae (without subtribe Athetae) , publishing house PH. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1967
• Faunistics of the Central European Beetles, Vol. XII, Cerambycidae , Verlagdruckerei PH. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1974
• AMJ Evers, W. Lucht (Ed.): Adolf Horion. Opera coleopterologica e periodicis collata. , Goecke & Evers, Krefeld, 1983. (Horion's smaller publications)

swell

• Joachim Illies : Msgr. Dr. hc Adolf Horion. An obituary. Mitt. Dtsch. Ges. Gen. Applied. Ent. 2., Giessen 1980
• V. Richter: Adolf Horion on his 75th birthday! Entomological sheets, 59 (2) 1963
• Adolf Horion: autobiography . Mitt. Work acc. Rhine. Koleopterologen (Bonn) 3 (2), 1993, 75-89
• Joachim Illies: Adolf Horion . Entomologische Blätter, 74 (3): 129-131, Krefeld
• W. Lucht: Adolf Horion - work and appreciation. Entomologische Blätter, 74 (3): 131-139, Krefeld
• Personal details. Adolf Horion 75 years , special print from Zeit. for appl. Entomologie 52, pp. 101-102 Hamburg-Berlin June 1963
• Article from the Südkurier of July 11, 1958: Tomorrow Prelate Dr.hc Horion will be 70 years old
• Article from the Südkurier of July 12, 1963: A great one in the world of beetle research
• Article from the Südkurier of August 10, 1971: A great one in the world of beetle research
• Article from Bodensee-Nachrichten No. 162, Monday, July 19, 1954 Natural science honored a theologian

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adolf Horion: Käferkunde for nature lovers . Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1949

Web links

• Literature by and about Adolf Horion in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography (with photo) of the Working Group of Rhenish Coleopterologists