Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel

Hermann Schlegel (born June 10, 1804 in Altenburg , Thuringia , † January 17, 1884 in Leiden ) was a German ornithologist and herpetologist .

biography

Schlegel was the son of the Altenburg yellow caster Johann David Schlegel. His father collected butterflies , and this aroused his interest in natural history from an early age . The accidental discovery of a buzzard's nest led him to bird studies and to a meeting with Christian Ludwig Brehm . Schlegel started working for his father, but soon afterwards he went to Vienna . In 1824 he attended lectures by Johann Jacob Heckel and Leopold Fitzinger . A letter of recommendation from Brehm to Josef Natterer got him a job at the Natural History Museum Vienna .

A year after his arrival, Schlegel came into contact with Coenraad Jacob Temminck , who was director of the Natural History Museum in Leiden at the time and was looking for an assistant, on the recommendation of Karl Franz Anton von Schreibers , the director of the Natural History Museum Vienna . At first Schlegel mainly worked on the reptile collection, but soon he expanded his field of activity to other zoological groups .

It was intended that Schlegel should travel to Java to join the Natural History Commission there, but the sudden death of Temminck's designated successor Heinrich Boie prevented the project from being realized. At this time Schlegel made the acquaintance of Philipp Franz von Siebold . Together they realized the work Fauna Japonica (1845–1850).

When Temminck died in early 1858, Schlegel succeeded him as director of the Natural History Museum in Leiden. Schlegel had previously worked for Temminck for 33 years. Schlegel was particularly interested in Southeast Asia, so in 1857 he sent his son Gustaaf to China as a bird collector. In 1859 Heinrich Agathon Bernstein (1828–1865) traveled to New Guinea on behalf of Schlegel . When Bernstein died in 1865, Hermann von Rosenberg continued his work.

In 1862 Otto Finsch became Schlegel's assistant. At the same time Schlegel published the museum magazine Notes from the Leyden Museum and the work Muséum d'histoire naturelle des Pays-Bas , which appeared in fourteen volumes from 1862 to 1880 and by John Gerrard Keulemans , Joseph Smit (1836-1929) and Joseph Wolf was illustrated. Schlegel's wife died in 1864, and Otto Finsch moved to Bremen as curator and from 1866 as director of the Völkerkunde-Museum . On behalf of Schlegel, Joseph Peter Audebert explored the east coast of Madagascar . Schlegel was a staunch opponent of Darwin's theory of evolution , which he viewed as simple speculation.

He described 80 species of reptiles.

In 1826 Hermann Schlegel was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . When La Société Cuvierienne was founded in 1838 , he was one of the 140 founding members of the society.

Taxa named after Schlegel

The following animals are named after Schlegel:

• Schlegel's Ringbeutler ( Pseudochirulus schlegeli , named by Fredericus Anna Jentink in 1884 ),
• the crested penguin ( Eudyptes schlegeli , named by Otto Finsch in 1874 ),
• the Sunda Gavial ( Tomistoma schlegelii , named by Salomon Müller ),
• the Schlegelfrankolin ( Francolinus schlegelii , named by Theodor von Heuglin in 1863 ) and
• the gold wing rudder ( Arremon Schlegeli , named in 1850 by Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte ).
• the plant family Schlegeliaceae and the genus Schlegelia , named in 1844 by Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel .
• Schlegel's reed snake ( Calamaria schlegeli )

Works (selection)

• 1834-1850: Fauna Japonica.
• 1837–1844: Illustrations of new or incompletely known amphibians: designed from nature or life.
• 1854: De zoogdieren created.
• Traité de fauconnerie: ouvrage orné de dix sept planches. - Leide: Arnz, 1853. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• 1854–1858: De vogels van Nederland. 3 vols.
• 1857–1858: Handleiding tot de beoefening der dierkunde. 2 vols.
• 1860–1862: De dieren van Nederland. Gewervelde dieren.
• 1862–1876: Revue méthodique et critique des collections déposées dans cet établissement. 7 vols.
• 1863–1872: De Dierentuin van het Koninklijk Zoologischer Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra te Amsterdam zoological established.
• 1868: Natuurlijke Historie van Nederland. De vogels.
• 1870: Natuurlijke Historie van Nederland. De cruising dieren.
• 1870: Natuurlijke Historie van Nederland. De zoogdieren.
• 1870: Natuurlijke Historie van Nederland. De Visschen.
• 1872: De dierentuin van het Koninklijk Zoölogisch Genootszchap Natura Artis Magistra te Amsterdam. De vogels. De zoogdieren. De cruising dieren. With historical memories from PH Witkamp.

Literature about Hermann Schlegel

• A Concise History of Ornithology , Michael Walters ISBN 1-873403-97-6
• Wilhelm Stricker:  Schlegel, Hermann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, p. 377 f.
• Renate Schönfuß-Krause: “Fly, bird, fly ...!” Exposé for Hermann Schlegel from Altenburg, ornithologist, zoologist; Biography
• Société Cuvierienne: List of the Premiers Fondateurs de La Société Cuvierienne, Association universelle pour l'avancement de la Zoologie, de L'Anatomie comparée et de la Palaeontologie . In: Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne . tape 1 , 1838, p. 189-192 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to Gans Collections, see web link. 98 species according to Peter Uetz: The original descriptions of reptiles, Zootaxa, No. 2335, 2010, 59-68, pdf
2. ^ Member entry by Hermann Schlegel at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on June 21, 2016.
3. ^ Société Cuvierienne, p. 191.
4. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018.

Remarks

1. ^ In: Schlegel, Gustaaf: Hermann Schlegel. Life picture of a naturalist. (Ed .: Hugo Köhler, Altenburg 1886, Verlag von Oskar Bonde) the date of birth is given as January 10, 1804.