History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 33: Naturalists Explore North America, mid‐1780s–mid‐1820s

A History of Ecological Sciences, Part 38A: Naturalists Explore North America, mid‐1820s to about 1840

“…Several naturalists who had explored before 1825 (Egerton 2009) continued doing so. Thomas Say (1787–1834), who had gone on expeditions in 1820 and 1823, joined Robert Owen's utopian community, New Harmony, at the edge of civilization in southwest Indiana.…”

“…Thomas Say had begun publishing articles on both insects and bivalves in Philadelphia, and since he also began publishing American Entomology (1824–1828) before leaving there, those three volumes were discussed in Part 33 (Egerton 2009:468–470). However, since he only began publishing his seven‐part American Conchology (1830–1836) after moving to New Harmony, it is discussed here.…”

“…Although many explorers returned to civilization and published their own discoveries, other naturalists did little or no exploring but served the cause of exploration by publishing the discoveries of others. We met George Ord (1781–1866) in Part 33 (Egerton 2009:458–459) as a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and as Alexander Wilson's colleague, who finished the American Ornithology after Wilson died. Ord went on one expedition to Florida and on shorter trips around Philadelphia with Wilson, but primarily published the discoveries of others.…”

“…This survey discusses (hopefully) the most important naturalists; for others, see book‐length works. Many of the general and specific sources cited in Part 33 (Egerton 2009:434) are also helpful for this period. Additional sources include Robert Bruce, The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876 1987, Margaret Welch, The Book of Nature: Natural History in the United States, 1825–1875 1998, Lester Stephens, Science, Race, and Religion in the American South: John Bachman and the Charleston Circle of Naturalists, 1815–1895 2000 and three histories of natural history studies in the Southwest: Samuel Geiser, Naturalists of the Frontier 1948, Edward Wallace, The Great Reconnaissance: Soldiers, Artists and Scientists on the Frontier, 1848–1861 1955, and Dan Fischer, Early Southwest Ornithologists, 1528–1900 2001.…”

History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 35: The Beginnings of British Marine Biology: Edward Forbes and Philip Gosse

“…The earliest known use of a long‐handled dip net to study organisms at the surface of the ocean was by two French naturalists, François Péron (1775–1810) and Charles‐Alexandre Lesueur (1778–1846), during a French expedition to Australia under Captain Nicholas Baudin, 1801–1804 (Ord 1849, Wells 1973, Jovet and Mallet 1974, Wallace 1984, Horner 1987:367–368, 1988, Bonnemains 1988, Bonnemains et al 1988, Laissus 1988, Goy 1995). Péron was one of five zoologists who sailed on the expedition, but two of them deserted in Mauritius (along with botanist André Michaux, discussed in Egerton 2009a), two others died, and Lesueur, an artist, filled the vacuum. Péron and Lesueur made plankton collections on the expedition, and afterwards in the Mediterranean Sea, and published some reports of their findings.…”