Oscar Theodor Baron

Oscar Theodor Baron or often written Oscar T. Baron (born September 10, 1847 in Repsch , Neustadt district , † September 7, 1927 in Oberglogau , Upper Silesia Province ) was a Silesian lepidopterologist , entomologist , ornithologist , explorer and engineer .

Live and act

Baptized on September 19, 1847, Baron later went to high school in Neustadt . As a thirteen-year-old boy, he started an entomological collection. He started out as a seaman and was shipwrecked off Java . Here he signed on to another ship and finally reached the United States with scurvy disease . During this time he was in charge of surveying a smaller island. He used his free time to collect insects. In California he finally worked as an engineer. He contracted a wart disease ( Verruga peruana ?) In the swamps of America , which, according to the doctors, was fatal . Baron survived the illness and decided to return to Europe.

In 1876 he worked in Navarro as a loader of schooners that were shipping goods from a sawmill from Navarro to San Francisco . In 1879 he moved to Mendocino . On April 13, 1879, he wrote to Henry Edwards that he was on a collecting tour. On May 23rd, he gathered at Sanhedrin Mountain . On June 15, he had reached Cache Creek , Lake County . Via Newville he was in Red Bluff on June 30th , from where he wrote in a letter that a box with 1000 collectibles had been sent. He was in Middletown on August 18th . He finally returned to Mendocino via Calistoga on September 24th. On October 15, he sent three boxes of supplies to Edwards. One got Edwards, the others went to James Spencer Bailey (1830–1883), Edward Louis Graef (–1922) and Berthold Neumoegen (1845–1895). In October 1881 he worked as a site engineer for the California Southern Rail Road Company . On August 3rd, Baron was in Middletown, where he probably collected until August 28th. Finally, on September 16, he returned to Mendocino. On October 16 he went on a trip again and was in Santa Barbara on November 7 . From there he moved on to San Bernardino and on to County San Dieguito .

In addition to Edwards, he was with Ferdinand Heinrich Hermann Strecker (1836-1901) in the postal exchange. The last letter to Strecker was dated January 20, 1893, from San Francisco. In the period between 1881 and 1893 he worked as an engineer for several railroad companies in California. In 1885 he made a trip to Mexico and told Strecker about it. From 1889 to 1891 he was traveling in Ecuador . During this time he communicated only with Albert Koebele (1836-1901). On February 29th he was in Ukiah collecting . By March 28th he was in Cloverdale , an area where he stayed until May 14th.

In 1881 Baron traveled extensively in southern California and was very busy with his railroad activities. So he was on May 8th in San Bernardino, on May 12th in the Canon of Santa Margarita and further on in San Luis Rey . The following year, 1882, was again heavily influenced by travel. On May 14th he first met William Greenwood Wright , whom he taught a lot about butterflies . He returned to Germany early in 1884, where he met Otto Staudinger . On the way through New York he visited all the people to whom he had sold the supplies he had collected. After his return he went to Mexico on the advice of Neumoegen, a trip that is no longer known than that he was in Chilpancingo on December 10, 1885 . Now he communicated frequently with his friend Albert Koebele . There followed a time as a railroad engineer with various collections in California. Baron reached Guayaquil , Ecuador, probably early in March 1889 . Here he gathered on the slopes of the Andes facing the Pacific, and on October 24th he reported from Loja . A second trip took him to Zamora . In Ecuador, Baron collected around 11,000 butterflies, 5,000 beetles and 700 hummingbirds. On January 26, 1890, he stayed on the Río Pescado in the province of Manabí . Now on June 12th he moved his headquarters to Cuenca . For his next destination, the Chimborazo , he temporarily relocated his headquarters to Riobamba . In February 1891, Baron was back in Alameda County . Here he worked again on the railroad and returned to Germany early in 1893.

When Hans Hermann Behr published on Californian butterflies ( Lepidoptera ), it was u. a. Baron, who supported him with his observations.

Baron collected many insects in Mendocino and Fresno Counties . Many de entomological species that he had collected were described by William Henry Edwards (1822-1909), Henry Edwards (1827-1891), and others. Henry Edwards use e.g. B. a large collection of insects from Baron to publish on the genus Hepialus .

In 1893 he first moved his butterfly and hummingbird collection to the California Academy of Sciences building to study it there. He considered a long expedition to Ecuador in the central Andes to collect butterflies and hummingbirds . Even then, his collections from Central and South America and especially Mexico were considered to be one of the most important of their time.

His collection, consisting of 1,019 hummingbirds from Mexico, California and Ecuador, which he himself had carefully preserved after studies in the wild, bought Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild , in 1893 for the sum of £ 615. The collection was a sensation for European ornithologists, as the hummingbirds have never been shown in natural positions. Rothschild later financed an expedition to Peru for Baron , where he discovered many new species in the Andes . In 1936/37 the collection was donated to the Natural History Museum . The collection later went to the American Museum of Natural History . Baron himself published an article about his trip to Peru with the title Notes on the localities visited by OT Baron in northern Peru and on the Trochilidae found there .

The type specimen of the purple pigeon subspecies Patagioenas subvinacea ogilviegranti ( Chubb, C , 1917) was collected by Baron in September 1894.

On October 3, 1892, he was elected a member of the California Academy of Sciences . Baron was also a member of the Californian Zoological Club .

For the past 30 years he has successfully bred bees in Oberglogau . Baron worked well into old age. Due to his reserved, peaceful character, he rarely reported on his adventures. Apart from his expedition stations in Peru, he has not published anything himself.

Dedication names

Osbert Salvin honored him in 1893 in the violet-throated glossy tail ( Metallura baroni ) and in 1895 in the white-browed tree panties ( Cranioleuca baroni ). In 1897 Ernst Hartert named the baron shadow hummingbird ( Phaethornis baroni ), which is also listed by other authorities as a subspecies of the western long-tailed shadow hummingbird ( Phaethornis longirostris baroni ), in his honor. His name can also be found in the subspecies of the yellow-breasted bushhammer ( Atlapetes latinuchus baroni ( Salvin , 1895)) and the subspecies of the coastal wren ( Cantorchilus superciliaris baroni ( Hellmayr , 1902)).

In addition, one finds in the literature Eutoxeres baroni Hartert, E & Hartert, C , 1894, a synonym eagle beak subspecies ( Eutoxeres aquila heterurus Gould , 1868) and Thamnophilus bernardi baroni Hartert, E & Goodson , 1917, a synonym for the spotted-face ant shrike Subspecies ( Thamnophilus bernardi cajamarcae ( Hellmayr , 1917)).

Oryzomys baroni Allen, JA , 1897 is a synonym for the Sigmodontinae species Aegialomys xanthaeolus ( Thomas , 1894).

William Henry Edwards dedicated the name to it in 1880 in the noble butterfly species ( Cercyonis baroni ) and in 1879 the noble butterfly subspecies ( Euphydryas editha baroni ). In 1881 William Henry Edwards named a subspecies Argynnis liliana baroni (today Speyeria callippe liliana ). James John Rivers honored him in 1890 in the tiger beetle species Amblycheila baroni . In 1886, Samuel Wendell Williston described the hoverfly species Cheilosia baroni, which was new to science, and in 1883, Oncomyia baroni, a synonym for the bladder-head fly species Thecophora occidensis ( Walker , 1849). In 1908, Ephraim Porter Felt named a species of gall mosquito Asphondylia baroni . It was not until 1916 that he specified that Baron had collected these on April 8, 1888 in Arizona .

Publications (selection)

• Notes on the localities visited by OT Baron in northern Peru and on the Trochilidae found there . In: Novitates Zoologicae . tape 4 , no. 1 , 1897, p. 1-10 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

literature

• Joel Asaph Allen: On a small collection of mammals from Peru, with descriptions of new species . In: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . tape 9 , 1897, pp. 115–119 (English, digitallibrary.amnh.org [PDF; 359 kB ]).
• Hans Hermann Behr: Biological Synopsis of California Lepidoptera . In: Bulletin of the California Academy of Sciences . tape 1 , p. 63-65 ( biodiversitylibrary.org - 1884-1886).
• Frederick Martin Brown: Oscar Theodore Baron (1847-1926) . In: Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society . tape 19 , no. 1 , 1965, p. 35–46 (English, images.peabody.yale.edu [PDF; 4.6 MB ]).
• Charles Chubb: Mr. Charles Chubb described three new species of birds from Ecuador and Peru as follows . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 38 , no. 227 , 1917, pp. 4-5 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Alice Eastwood: Members of the Californian Zoological Club . In: Zoe: a biological journal . tape 3 , no. 2 , 1892, p. 277-280 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Alice Eastwood: News . In: Zoe: a biological journal . tape 3 , no. 4 , 1893, p. 378 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Henry Edwards: Notes on the Pacific Coast Species of Hepialus with description of new forms . In: Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society . tape 1 , 1881, p. 35-36 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• William Henry Edwards: Notes upon the preparatory stages of certain species of butterflies . In: The Canadian Entomologist . tape 11 , 1879, p. 127-130 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• William Henry Edwards: On certain species of Satyrus . In: The Canadian Entomologist . tape 12 , 1880, p. 90-94 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• William Henry Edwards: Descriptions of new species of Diurnal Lepidoptera found within the United Staes . In: Transactions of the American Entomological Society . tape 9 , p. 1-8 ( biodiversitylibrary.org - 1881-1882).
• Ephraim Porter Felt in John Mason Clarke, Ephraim Porter Felt: 23d Report of the State Entomologist 1907 . In: Museum bulletin . No. 124 , 1908, pp. 1-541 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Ephraim Porter Felt in John Mason Clarke, Ephraim Porter Felt: 31st Report of the State Entomologist 1915 . In: New Yourk State Museum Bulletin . No. 186 , 1916, pp. 1-215 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Fordyce Grinnell Jr .: Biological Synopsis of California Lepidoptera . In: Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society . tape 9 , no. 4 , 1914, pp. 67-73 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Harvey Willson Harkness: October 3, 1892 State Meeting . In: Proceedings of the California Academy of Science (=  2 ). tape 3 , p. 376 ( biodiversitylibrary.org - 1890-1892).
• Ernst Hartert: Various Notes on Humming Birds . In: The Ibis (=  7 ). tape 3 , 1887, p. 423-435 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Ernst Hartert, Claudia Bernadine Elisabeth Hartert : On a collection of Humming Birds from Ecuador and Mexico . In: Novitates Zoologicae . tape 1 , no. 1 , 1894, p. 43-64 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Ernst Hartert, Arthur Thomas Goodson: Further Notes on South American Birds . In: Novitates Zoologicae . tape 24 , no. 3 , 1917, pp. 494-501 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Carl Eduard Hellmayr: A few more words about Tryophilus . In: Negotiations of the Imperial-Royal Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna . tape 52 , 1902, pp. 169-170 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Otto Meißner: Oscar Theodore Baron . In: Entomological Journal . tape 43 , no. 11 , 1929, pp. 131 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
• James John Rivers: Three new species of Coleoptera . In: Entomologica Americana . tape 6 , no. 171 , 1890, p. 111-112 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Miriam Rothschild: Dear Lord Rothschild: Birds, Butterflies and History . Balaban Publishers, Rehovot 1983, ISBN 978-0-86689-019-9 .
• Osbert Salvin: Osbert Salvin, FRS contributed descriptions of two supposed new species of Metallura from Ecuador, which he supposed to call . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 1 , 1893, p. 49 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Osbert Salvin: On birds collected in Peru by Mr. OT Baron . In: Novitates Zoologicae . tape 2 , no. 1 , 1895, p. 1-22 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Osbert Salvin: Mr. Salvin Osbert sent the following descriptions of two new species of Humming-Birds, specimens of which had been obtained by Mr. OT Baron during his recent expedition to Peru . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 6 , no. 52 , 1897, pp. 30-31 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Samuel Wendell Williston: North American Conopidae: Stylogaster, Dalmannia, Oncomyia . In: Bulletin of the United States National Museum . tape 6 , p. 91-98 ( biodiversitylibrary.org - 1882-1885).
• Samuel Wendell Williston: North American Sylphidae . In: Bulletin of the United States National Museum . No. 31 , 1886, p. I-335 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Otto Meißner (1929), p. 131.
2. ↑ Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 35.
3. ↑ Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 36.
4. ↑ Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 37.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 38.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 39.
7. ↑ Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 41.
8. ↑ Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 43.
9. ↑ Frederick Martin Brown (1965), p. 44.
10. ↑ Hans Hermann Behr (1884–1886), p. 331.
11. ^ Fordyce Grinnell Jr., p. 71.
12. ^ Henry Edwards (1881), p. 35.
13. ^ Alice Eastwood (1893), p. 378.
14. ↑ Miriam Rothschild (1983), p. 331.
15. ^ Charles Chubb (1917), p. 5.
16. ↑ Harvey Willson Harkness (1890-1892), p. 376.
17. ↑ Alice Eastwood (1892), p. 277.
18. ^ Osbert Salvin (1893), p. 49.
19. ^ Osbert Salvin (1895), p. 14.
20. ↑ Ernst Hartert (1887), p. 426
21. ^ Osbert Salvin (1895), p. 5.
22. ^ Carl Eduard Hellmayr (1902), p. 170.
23. ↑ Ernst Hartert (1894) and a., p. 54.
24. ↑ Ernst Hartert (1917) and a., p. 498.
25. ^ Joel Asaph Allen (1897), p. 117.
26. ^ William Henry Edwards (1880), p. 91.
27. ^ William Henry Edwards (1879), p. 129.
28. ^ William Henry Edwards (1881), p. 2.
29. ↑ James John Rivers (1890), p. 111.
30. ^ Samuel Wendell Williston (1886), p. 40.
31. ^ Samuel Wendell Williston (1883), p. 97.
32. ↑ Ephraim Porter Felt (1908), p. 377.
33. ↑ Ephraim Porter Felt (1916), p. 133.