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46
Vol.8: nos.1-2
SMITH AND HULST COLLECTIONS OBTAINED BY AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
The Department of Insects and Spiders of the American Museum of Natural History proudly announces the accession of the JOHN B. SMITH and GEORGE D. HULST collections of Lepidoptera. This valuable accession was made possible through the cooperation of Dr. William H. Martin, Dean of the College of Agriculture, and Professors BAILEY B. PEPPER and JOHN B. Schmitt, Department of Entomology, Rutgers University. This is one of the most valuable collections of North American Lepidoptera in existence, as it consists of 32,022 specimens representing almost 6,000 species. It contains over 2200 type specimens including approximately 1200 holotypes. The majority of these type specimens are those of SMITH and HULST, who were the outstanding authorities on the North American Phalaenidae (Noctuidae), Geometridse, and Pyralidae of their generation. There is a small amount of type material of other authors.
JOHN B. SMITH (1858-1912) came to Rutgers in 1889, after spending the preceding three years at the United States National Museum, and remained there until his death. He was the State Entomologist of New Jersey from 1894 until 1912. Smith built up the North American Phalaenid collection at Rutgers until it was one of the best collections in this family in existence. As he was the leading authority on this family, he also received material for identification from different collectors, and thus more interesting specimens came to hand. SMITH described a very large number of new species, and he published a great number of papers. These include not only papers with the original descriptions of new species, but a number of generic revisions and check lists. The collection at Rutgers formed the basis for the majority of these, and hence its great value.
GEORGE D. HULST (1846-1900), while describing a number of Phalaenids, is better known for his work on the Geometridae and Pyralidas. The HULST collection is one of both butterflies and moths, but is richest in his specialties. He published almost one hundred papers, mostly on descriptions of early stages and of new species of Lepidoptera. Included in this list of publications were revisions of the North American Epipaschiinae, Phycitidae, and Geometridae, which still stand as the basic works in these groups. These papers were based mainly on his collection, which was given to Rutgers and contains many types.
Every specimen in these collections is labeled with the original J. B. SMITH or G. D. HULST collection labels, or is being so labeled before being incorporated into the Lepidoptera collection of the American Museum of Natural History. In this way, future workers can recognize the specimens from these collections. The primary types are being segregated into the type collection at the American Museum, and a list of all type material is being prepared. An identified collection of Lepidoptera is being deposited in the Department of Entomology of Rutgers University.
Frederick H. Rindge,
Associate Curator, Dept. of Insects and Spiders,
American Museum of Natural History, New York 24, N. Y., U.S.A.