Ferdinand Heinrich Herman Strecker (24 March 1836, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

– 30 November 1901, in Reading, Pennsylvania) was an American entomologist specialising in butterflies and moths ( Lepidoptera). Strecker was born in Philadelphia to Ferdinand and Anna (''née'' Kern) who had immigrated from Germany. His father, had trained as a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

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, settled in

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where he made and traded in

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. The young Strecker showed great aptitude for this trade, starting to work at twelve years, and succeeding his father. But sculpture was not lucrative enough and young Strecker also made tombstones and trained in architecture. On his mother's side he had naturalists as well as artists who inspired him young. As a young man, Strecker frequented the library of the

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading nat ...

where he studied natural history and more particularly the butterflies. A

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, he traveled extensively, in particular in the Caribbean,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

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where he studied

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

monuments and collected butterflies. After forty years of collecting, he had assembled a collection of 200,000 specimens of butterflies and moths coming from all the corners of the world, including 300 new

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

and around 150 subspecies. His collection occupied a whole floor of his house in Reading. At the time of his death in 1901, Strecker's collection was the largest and most important private collection of butterflies and moths in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. It was purchased in 1908 by the Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago. In spite of his limited resources, he published, from 1872 to 1878, ''Lepidoptera Rhopaloceres and Heteroceres, Indigenous and Exotic, with Descriptions and Colored Illustrations.'' Richly illustrated by himself, with the assistance of colorist Emily L. Morton, the work identifies 251 new species. A second edition was published as a single volume in 1879. In 1878, he published ''Butterflies and Moths of North America'' which also details methods for the preparation, breeding, collection, the classification and the conservation of the butterflies. In addition to building his own collection, Strecker was a dealer of butterfly and moth specimens. In 1890, he received an honorary doctorate from

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

Works

*Strecker, H., 1872-1878. ''Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres and Heteroceras, Indigenous and Exotic; with Descriptions and Colored Illustrations''. Reading, PA, Owen's Steam Book and Job Printing Office, 143 p., XV plates. *Strecker, H., 1879. ''Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres and Heteroceras, Indigenous and Exotic; with Descriptions and Colored Illustrations''. Second edition. Reading, PA, Author, 143 p., XV plates

References

* *
Calhoun, John V. (2017). "A second edition of Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres and Heteroceres by Herman Strecker, with notes on the first edition and supplements." Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 71: 81-91.
* * *

External links

Strecker Plates (images)Herman Strecker Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strecker, Ferdinand Heinrich Herman 1836 births 1901 deaths American lepidopterists American people of German descent People from Philadelphia