James Halliday McDunnough (10 May 1877 – 23 February 1962) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, musician, and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

best known for his work with

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

, but who also made important contributions about North American Ephemeroptera.

Early life

McDunnough travelled with his mother and aunt to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

to be trained as a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

ian, studying under the great

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely ...

. After a season as a violinist in a

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

(presumably what is now the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

), he taught English to a Russian family and then decided to change careers. In 1904 he went back to study in Berlin, receiving his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

in 1909. Returning to North America, he worked briefly at the

Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...

Woods Hole, Massachusetts Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 78 ...

and married Margaret Bertels, from Berlin. He soon learned of an important opportunity: a wealthy

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

named

William Barnes William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...

needed an entomologist to serve as

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

and researcher for his private

collection Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

of North American Lepidoptera - probably the best in existence at the time. From 1910 to 1919 McDunnough produced, with Barnes credited as co-author, an impressive volume of research on the

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of North American Lepidoptera, including the first four volumes of the privately published ''Contributions to the Natural History of the Lepidoptera of North America'', the 1917 ''Check list of the Lepidoptera of Boreal America'', ''Illustrations of the North American Species of the Genus Catocala'', and numerous journal articles, 67 papers in all. He also published nine articles solely under his own name during this period. In 1918, McDunnough spent a summer helping with the Canada National Collection of Insects (now the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes) by arranging the

microlepidoptera Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the "smaller moths" ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, so are harder to iden ...

part of the collection. This led to his leaving the job with Barnes in 1919 and heading the newly created Division of Systematic Entomology within the Entomological Branch of the Canadian Department of Agriculture. He remained there until 1946. During those 28 years, he oversaw the development of the Canadian National Collection into a world-class repository of insect and other arthropod specimens along with an extensive library of entomological publications, conducted

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

l surveys throughout Canada, and published 199 taxonomic papers. Over the same period, he also was editor for the

Entomological Society of Canada The Entomological Society of Canada or Société d’Entomologie du Canada is one of Canada's most historic scientific societies. The society was founded in Toronto on April 16, 1863. The first Council was composed of President Henry Holmes Cro ...

's journal, ''

The Canadian Entomologist ''The Canadian Entomologist'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of entomology. It is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of Canada and was established in 1868. Volumes ...

'', from 1921 to 1938. After retirement, he was appointed a research associate at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

, working there from late 1946 to 1950. In 1950, after the death of his wife, he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he became a research associate for the Nova Scotia Museum of Science, while still publishing papers through the AMNH. The following year, he became the first president of the

Lepidopterists' Society The Lepidopterists' Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of Butterfly, butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). Founded in 1947 and based in the United States, it has an international focus and membership. Publications The s ...

. His last paper was published in the year of his death, 1962, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDunnough, James Halliday 1877 births 1962 deaths Canadian academic journal editors Canadian entomologists Canadian lepidopterists People from Decatur, Illinois People from Halifax, Nova Scotia People from Old Toronto Taxon authorities People associated with the American Museum of Natural History