Henry Suter (born Hans Heinrich Suter, 9 March 1841 – 31 July 1918) was a Swiss-born New Zealand

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, naturalist,

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, and

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

Biography

Henry Suter was born on 9 March 1841 in

Riesbach Riesbach is a district in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is District number 8. History The district comprises the quarters Seefeld, Mühlebach and Weinegg. Riesbach was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich i ...

, Zurich, Switzerland, and was the son of a prosperous silk-manufacturer of Zurich. He was educated at the local school and university, being trained as an analytical chemist. Suter joined his father's business, and for some years he engaged in various commercial pursuits. From his boyhood, Henry Suter was deeply interested in natural history. He enjoyed the friendship and help of such men as Dr.

Auguste Forel Auguste-Henri Forel (1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. For example, he is considered a ...

, Professor Paul Godet, the brothers de Saussure (linguist

Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand de Saussure (; ; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is widel ...

, Sinolog and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

Léopold de Saussure and

René de Saussure René de Saussure (17 March 1868 – 2 December 1943) was a Swiss Esperantist and professional mathematician (he defended a doctoral thesis on a subject in geometry at the Johns Hopkins University in 1895 and until 1899 he was professor at the Ca ...

Esperantist and scientist), Escher von der Linth, and especially the well-known conchologist, Dr.

Albert Mousson Albert Mousson, full name Johann Rudolf Albert Mousson, (17 March 1805, Solothurn – 16 November 1890) was a physicist and a malacologist from Switzerland. Taxa described Gastropods Taxa described by Albert Mousson include (sorted chronologica ...

. Partly to improve his financial prospects and partly lured by the attraction of the fauna of a new country, Suter resolved to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to New Zealand. It was the last day of the year 1886 when with his wife and a family of young children he landed in New Zealand. According to words by captain Frederick Hutton: "He was Swiss, lately arrived in New Zealand with introductions from well-known European zoologists." Suter began his colonial career by taking up a remote selection in the Forty-mile Bush in the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

region. It is only in a story that a middle-aged townsman can ever turn backwoodsman with success, and so after about a year, Suter relinquished the hard and hopeless struggle. At this critical time captain Hutton, always a firm friend to zoologists, succeeded in obtaining for his

protégé Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

a post as assistant manager at the Mount Cook Hermitage. Subsequently, work was available at the Canterbury Museum. After that, at one or another of the scientific institutions of New Zealand Suter spent the remainder of his life at congenial employment. Henry Suter was an expert collector. He excelled in finding the most minute

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

s, to find which requires knowledge, patience, and the sharpest eyes. Specialists in other groups were often supplied valuable material by Suter. In Switzerland he had formed a fine collection of European land and fresh-water shells, which was later acquired by the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

. For several years, Suter restricted his studies to the terrestrial and freshwater molluscs of New Zealand. When his work on these approached completion, he proposed to extend his investigations to land gastropods abroad, hence his scattered papers on land molluscs from Brazil, South Africa, and Tasmania. His friends, however, persuaded him that science would be better served if he relinquished the foreign shells and transferred his attention to the marine molluscs of New Zealand. Not only did he take this course, but he finally embraced the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

mollusks into his sphere of operations. His characteristics were patience, perseverance, and concentration, rather than any great breadth of view. After a brief illness, Henry Suter died at his home in Christchurch on 31 July 1918. He was buried at Linwood Cemetery on 3 August 1918. Tonna variegata Manual of New Zealand mollusca Suter

Tonna variegata Manual of New Zealand mollusca Suter

Bibliography

Charles Hedley Charles Hedley (27 February 1862 – 14 September 1926) was a naturalist, specifically a malacologist. Born in Britain, he spent most of his life in Australia. He was the winner of the 1925 Clarke Medal. Early life Hedley was born in the vicara ...

described Henry Suter's work as: "... excellent descriptions of small land-shells, illustrated with unusually clear and detailed drawings ..." with "... the jaws and radula of various minute snails. This very difficult work was beautifully done." Suter's writings were largely modeled on those of his distinguished predecessor, Captain Hutton. It was indeed fortunate that the work of the one should have succeeded that of the other without the intervention of what the geologists describe as a nonconformity. Perhaps at no time did Suter quite realize the undiscovered residue of the fauna on which he worked. His ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'' was the ''Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca'' published in 1913–1915. This work was approached by a whole quarter-century of study and labour and covers 1,079 species. Critical review of this ''Manual'' evaluated it as "an extraordinary advance" in conchology of New Zealand. Also the nomenclature of the ''Manual'' raised to a modern standard of its age. Review in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' (1916) evaluated illustrations like this: "The illustrations reach a high level of excellence, and the figures generally are clear, well drawn, and adequate in detail."

Augustus Hamilton Augustus Hamilton (1 March 1853 – 12 October 1913) was a New Zealand ethnologist, biologist and museum director. He was born in Poole, Dorset, England on 1 March 1853. He wrote on the fishing and seafoods of the ancient Māori people. He al ...

(1854–1913; U.K.) planned the ''Manual',' however, and obtained a grant from the Government to cover the costs of its production. After the ''Manual'' was completed, Suter was engaged by the

Geological Survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outc ...

to describe collections of Tertiary mollusks gathered by the Department. On this he was busy for the remainder of his life, and the results are embodied in three ''Palaeontological Bulletins'' of the Geological Survey. * (1913)
''Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca''
Wellington, 1120 pp. * (1913). "Descriptions of three new species of land shells from New Zealand". ''Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London'' 10: 333–334. * (1915)
''Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca. Atlas of plates''
John Mackay, Government printer, Wellington. (72 plates with descriptions) * (1915)
''Alphabetical hand-list of New Zealand Tertiary Mollusca''
Articles by Henry Suter published in ''

Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute The ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand'' was a scientific journal and magazine published by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Before 1933 the society was called the New Zealand Institute, and the journal's name was ...

'': * (1889) "Descriptions of New Species of New Zealand Land and Fresh-water Shells". 22 * (1890) "Miscellaneous Communications on New Zealand Land and Fresh-water Molluscs". 23 * (1891) "Contributions to the Molluscan Fauna of New Zealand". 24 * (1891) "List of the Introduced Land and Fresh-water Mollusca of New Zealand". 24 * (1891) "List of Land and Fresh-water Mollusca doubtful for New Zealand or not inhabiting it". 24 * (1891) "Miscellaneous Communications on New Zealand Land and Fresh-water Mollusca". 24 * (1891) "On the Dentition of some New Zealand Land and Fresh-water Mollusca, with Descriptions of New Species". 24 * (1892) "Notes on New Zealand Insects". 25 * (1892) "Contributions to the Molluscan Fauna of New Zealand". 25 * (1893) "Check-list of the New Zealand Land and Freshwater Mollusca". 26 * (1893) "Further Contributions to the Knowledge of the Molluscan Fauna of New Zealand, with Descriptions of Eight new Species". 26 * (1895) "Further Contributions to the Molluscan Fauna of New Zealand". 28 * (1898) "New Zealand Polyplacophora: Keys to Genera and Species". 31 * (1898) "List of New Zealand Mollusca described in Foreign Publications since 1890". 31 * (1900) "Further Contributions to the Geographical Distribution of the New Zealand Non-marine Mollusca". 33 * (1901) "On the Land Mollusca of Little Barrier Island". 34 * (1901) "List of the Species described in F. W. Hutton's Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca, with the Corresponding Names used at the Present Time". 34 * (1904) "Report on the Mollusca collected by Messrs. Keith Lucas and G. L. Hodgkin in Six Lakes of New Zealand". 37 * (1904) "The First-discovered New Zealand '' Gundlachia''". 37 * (1904) "Revision of the New Zealand Species of the Genus '' Potamopyrgus'', with Description of a New Species". 37 * (1904) "Revision of the New Zealand Species of the Genus Isidora, with Description of a New Subspecies". 37 * (1905) "Notes on New Zealand Mollusca, with Descriptions of New Species and Subspecies". 38 * (1905) "Genus '' Isidora'': Correction of Article XVI. in Last Year's Transactions (Volume XXXVII)". 38 * (1905) "On '' Flabellum rugulosum'', Tenison-Woods.". 38 * (1906) "Results of

Dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Placostylus ''Placostylus'', or flax snails, are a genus of very large, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Bothriembryontidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Placostylus H. Beck, 1837. Accessed thro ...

'' from New Zealand". 40 * (1907) "Descriptions of New Species of New Zealand Mollusca". 40 * (1909) "List of Recent Shells found Fossil in New Zealand". 42 * (1912) "New Species of Tertiary Mollusca". 45 * (1916) "On the Origin of a New Species by Isolation". 49 * (1919) "Description of a New Species of the Family

Cerithiidae Cerithiidae, common name the cerithiids or ceriths, is a large family of medium-sized marine gastropods in the clade Sorbeoconcha. Distribution Ceriths are found worldwide on sandy bottoms, reef flats or coral reef rock covered with sand ...

". 51

Species described

Species originally discovered and described by Henry Suter include the following gastropods: * '' Gundlachia lucasi'' Suter, 1905 * '' Gundlachia neozelanica'' Suter, 1905 * '' Potamopyrgus subterraneus'' Suter, 1904 * '' Odostomia murdochi'' Suter, 1913 * '' Fastigiella australis'' Suter, 1919 – fossil

Legacy

Suter is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of New Zealand lizard, '' Oligosoma suteri''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Suter", p. 258).

References

This article incorporated public domain text from the reference Hedley Ch. (1 September 1919)
Henry Suter, 1841–1918.
''

'' 51: pages ix.-x.

External links