Arthur Holmes Howell

Arthur Holmes Howell (born May 3, 1872 in Lake Grove , New York , † July 10, 1940 in Washington, DC ) was an American zoologist who mainly dealt with birds and mammals .

Live and act

Arthur Holmes Howell was the son of Elbert Richard and Ann (Judson Holmes) Howell. After high school he worked as a civil servant, but spent most of his free time bird watching. He also collected the animals' nests and eggs and began making skins .

In 1888 he made the acquaintance of William Dutcher , who invited him to join the Linnean Society of New York . Howell did so and was elected Secretary of that Society for two years in 1892. In 1889 Howell also joined the American Ornithologists' Union . Howell met many scientists in both societies, including Vernon Orlando Bailey , who hired Howell as a field assistant. From 1896 Howell worked as a curator in Washington, DC on the Division of Biologias Survey, where he was mainly responsible for mammals . During this time he gained great fame in zoology and was elected an academic member for the American Ornithologists' Union in 1930. Among other things, he visited Great Gull Island in August 1898 and confirmed that the Gull meadow vole ( Microtus pennsylvanicus nesophilus ) was extinct there.

Howell retired in May 1940, suffered a cerebral haemorrhage shortly afterwards, and died on July 10, 1940.

Howell published over 80 scientific papers and numerous books on birds and mammals during his lifetime, including "Birds of Arkansas" (1911), "Birds of Alabama" (1924) and "Florida bird life" (1932). His most important works include works on the interaction of birds with the cotton boll beetle ( Anthonomus grandis ), an important pest of the cotton plant . He is also the first to describe 83 species of mammals, including the gray mouse- eared mouse ( Myotis grisens ) and the red-tailed chipmunk ( Tamias ruficaudus ).

literature

• Viola S. Schantz: In Memoriam: Arthur H. Howell . (PDF) In: The Auk . 80, No. 3, July 1963, pp. 290-294. doi : 10.2307 / 4082887 .