Alpheus Spring Packard

This article is about the scientist. For his father the educator, see Alpheus Spring Packard Sr.

Alpheus Spring Packard Jr.
Packard circa 1888
Born	(1839-02-19)February 19, 1839 Brunswick, Maine
Died	February 14, 1905(1905-02-14) (aged 65)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Bowdoin College, 1861 Harvard University, 1864
Scientific career
Fields	Entomology Palaeontology
Institutions	Brown University
Signature

Alpheus Spring Packard Jr. LL.D. (February 19, 1839 – February 14, 1905) was an American entomologist and palaeontologist. He described over 500 new animal species – especially butterflies and moths – and was one of the founders of The American Naturalist.

Early life

He was the son of Alpheus Spring Packard Sr. (1798–1884) and the brother of William Alfred Packard. He was born in Brunswick, Maine, and was Professor of Zoology and Geology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1878 until his death. He was a vocal proponent of Neo-Lamarckism during the eclipse of Darwinism.

Career

His chief work was the classification and anatomy of arthropods, and contributions to economic entomology, zoogeography, and the phylogeny and metamorphoses of insects. Packard was appointed to the United States Entomological Commission in 1877 where he served with Charles Valentine Riley and Cyrus Thomas. He wrote school textbooks, such as Zoölogy for High Schools and Colleges (eleventh edition, 1904). His Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of North America was published in three parts (1895, 1905, 1915, edited by T. D. A. Cockerell).

He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1878.

Personal life

He married Elizabeth Darby Walcott, daughter of Samuel B. Walcott in October 1867 in Salem, Massachusetts. They would have four children: Martha Walcott, Alpheus Appleton, Elizabeth Darby, and Frances Elizabeth. Elizabeth Darby would die at the age of eight. He died on February 14, 1905, in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife and children outliving him.

Writings

• Report on the insects collected on the Penobscot and Alleguash Rivers, during August and September, 1861, Sixth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture, Augusta, Maine (pp. 373-376) (1861)
• Guide to the Study of Insects (1869; third edition, 1872)
• The Mammoth Cave and its Inhabitants (1872), with F. W. Putnam
• Life-History of Animals (1876)
• A Naturalist on the Labrador Coast (1891)
• Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution: His Life and Work (1901), French translation, 1903.
• Alpheus Spring Packard (1886). First Lessons in Zoology: Adapted for Use in Schools …. Holt.

References

• Cockerell, T.D.A. (1920). "Biographical Memoir of Alpheus Spring Packard 1839-1905" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. 9: 181–236.
• Essig, E. O. (1931). A History of Entomology. MacMillan Company. pp. 727-729.
• Henshaw, Samuel (1887). The Entomological Writings of Dr. Alpheus Spring Packard. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Entomology. p. 5. Alpheus Spring Packard.
• Mallis, Arnold (1971). American Entomologists. Rutgers University Press. pp. 296–302. ISBN 0-8135-0686-7.
• Mead, A. D. (1918). "Alpheus Spring Packard (1839-1905)". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 53 (10): 848–850. JSTOR 25130026.
• Sorenson, W. Conner (1995). Brethren of the Net: American Entomologists, 1840-1880. University of Alabama Press.
• Sterling, Keir B., ed. (1997). "Packard, Alpheus Spring Jr.". Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists. Greenwood Press.

External links

• The entomological writings of Dr. Alpheus Spring Packard
• Works by Alpheus Spring Packard at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Alpheus Spring Packard at the Internet Archive
• Works by Alpheus Spring Packard at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Gallica Two works by Packard
• Brunoniana Biography
• Nomina circumscribentia insectorum On the phylogeny of the Lepidoptera. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 18 (465): 228-236 1895.