Adler, Kraig (ed. 2007): Contributions to the History of Herpetology, Volume 2

2009·0.03 MB·English

by  Review, Book

Book Review
Adler, Kraig (ed. 2007): Contributions to the of herpetological schools per country by Ronald
History of Herpetology, Volume 2. – Ithaca, New Altig.
York, USA, Society for the Study of Amphibians The year 2007 saw the SSAR celebrate their
and Reptiles, 389 pp. ISBN: 978-0-96984-7-7. fiftieth year of existence. On occasion of the an-
65,-- . niversary congress in Saint Louis, Kraig Adler
presented his “Contributions to the History of
Like the DGHT, our major US sister society, the Herpetology, Volume 2”. This sequel follows its
“Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles predecessor in both external appearance and in-
(SSAR)”, strives to further the knowledge of am- ternal structure. Containing 285 biographies on
phibians and reptiles by making available a wide a total of 389 pages, it is almost twice as volumi-
variety of publications, including, for example, nous, however. The biographic portrayals of the
the two renown journals “Journal of Herpetology” individual persons conform to the proven concept
and “Herpetological Review”. A particularly laud- of the first volume as well. While Conrad Gess-
able initiative of the SSAR is the facsimile reprint- ner appeared as the sole “father” of herpetology
ing of difficult-to-access herpetological standard in the first volume, he is now joined by three Ital-
references. As only one such example may serve ian researchers: Nicolò Leoniceno (428-524),
Leopold Fitzinger’s (802-884) “Systema Rep- Pandolfo Collenuccio (444-504), and the fa-
tilium” dating back to 843, which is the origi- mous Ulisse Aldrovandi (522-605). The bio-
nal source of numerous generic names, many of graphic section ends with a portrayal of the US-
which are still valid today. herpetologist Joseph B. Slowinski (962-200)
How important the roots of our science are to who succumbed to the bite of a krait (Bungarus
the SSAR was also demonstrated by their publish- multicinctus) in northern Myanmar (Burma) on
ing Kraig Adler’s “Contributions to the History 2 September 200. Interestingly enough, the se-
of Herpetology”, a book that was issued in 989 on quence of the biographies in both volumes does
occasion of the st World Congress of Herpetol- not follow the years of birth or death of the por-
ogy in Canterbury. Comprising 202 pages, it pro- trayed persons, but rather the year of their first
vided biographic data for 52 herpetologists, be- herpetological publication.
ginning with the famous naturalist Conrad Gess- Portraits of German herpetologists feature quite
ner (56-565) of Zurich, and ending with the prominently in both volumes, accounting for 28%
Spanish-Argentine herpetologist Avelino Bar- in the first volume. By comparison, US-Americans
rio (920-979). The volume included both per- are represented for 23%, Brits and French for %
sons who dedicated their entire lives to herpetol- each, and Italians and Russians for 3% each. The
ogy, like Robert Mertens (894-975) for exam- biographies contained in the second volume still
ple, and those for whom herpetology was merely refer for 7% to herpetologists from the German-
a marginal aspect of their actual activity, as was speaking part of Europe. While the first volume
the case with the famous Carl von Linné (707- took the honour of being the first book that was
778). These portraits were not strictly limited to solely dedicated to presenting biographies of her-
scientists either, but also included some promi- petologists, Kraig Adler has managed with his
nent amateur herpetologists and terrarium keep- second volume to complement it in an excellent
ers, such as Wilhelm Klingelhöffer (87-953) manner, adding major personalities such as Pe-
or Zdenìk Vogel (93-986). As far as is known, ter Simon Pallas (74-8), Eduard Ever-
the personal and scientific careers and the most smann (794-860), and Willy Wolterstorff
important scientific works of the individual per- (864-943). Furthermore included are of course
sons are portrayed. Every biography furthermore researchers who have died since the appearance of
includes an autograph and, in most of the cases, a the first volume, as was the case, for example, with
portrait. The latter was impossible to trace in only Martin Eisentraut (902-994), Josef Eiselt
three instances: for the French explorer of Indo- (92-200), and Heinz Wermuth (98-2002).
china, René Bourret (884-957), and, unfortu- For the intended third volume, I would person-
nately, also for two famous authors of well-known ally wish that space be found for more personali-
valid taxa, Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti (735- ties of historical importance. Names such as Egid
805) and François-Marie Daudin (774-804). Schreiber (836-93), the author of the “Herpet-
These biographies are followed first by a list of au- ologia europaea”, Bruno Dürigen (853-930), au-
thors of herpetological taxa that was compiled by thor of “Deutschlands Amphibien und Reptilien”,
John S. Applegarth, and then by an overview and Hans-Günter Petzold (93-982), author
191
Book Review
of “Aufgaben und Probleme bei der Erforschung applicable), country, and focus animal group.
der Lebensäußerungen der niederen Amnioten This list contains a total of not less than 3603 (!)
(Reptilien)”, come to mind spontaneously. names of persons. The book ends once more with
The herpetological achievements of the por- an overview of herpetological schools by Ronald
trayed personalities take of course centre stage in Altig, which serves as a source of information for
the biographies. But Kraig Adler also relays the where herpetologists of name received their edu-
stories of the humans behind the stories and their cation and earned their first merits.
social activities. In this fashion, it is for example Those who have tackled biographic research
mentioned that Willy Wolterstorff lost his themselves will know what an immense effort it
hearing due to an illness just as well as his being sometimes takes to retrieve data. It cannot there-
very much involved in founding the “Salamander”, fore be praised enough what Kraig Adler and
the predecessor of today’s DGHT, in which scien- his co-workers have pieced together and thus
tists and amateurs would find a common platform made available to every reader. It is something
right from its inception. they can only be congratulated on. The book must
In this volume, the biographies are again fol- be recommended to everybody who takes an in-
lowed by an overview of authors of herpetologi- terest beyond the actual amphibians and reptiles
cal taxa compiled by John S. Applegarth. It and also wants to learn something about the peo-
now also contains persons living today, providing ple who have dedicated themselves to their study.
name, date of birth (also the date of death where
Wolfgang Bischoff
192