Faunistic research in the Moscow Governorate in the 19th century: the role of scientific societies

Abstract

The present paper deals with the history of faunistic research in the Moscow Governorate in the 19th century Russia and the role played in this research by the Moscow University and affiliated natural history societies, especially the Moscow Society of Naturalists and Society of Friends of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography. The question is discussed why, in spite of a number of research projects on the Moscow fauna, initiated by these societies, even in the beginning of the 20th century the progress in the field, according to the leading Moscow zoologists, was still insufficient.