Jacques M R Surcouf (1873–1934) was a French

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. He held the title of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

and may have been of

corsair A corsair is a privateer or pirate, especially: * Barbary corsair, Ottoman and Berber pirates and privateers operating from North Africa * French corsairs, privateers operating on behalf of the French crown Corsair may also refer to: Arts and ...

descent (see

Robert Surcouf Robert Surcouf (12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean between 1789 and 1801, and again from 1807 to 1808, capturing over 40 prizes. He later amassed a large fortune as a ...

). From at least 1906–1911, he was head of zoology at the colonial laboratory of the Paris National Museum of Natural History. He published a number of notable studies, largely on the subject of flies. In 1909 he published a description of four new species of

horse-fly Horse-flies or horseflies are true Fly, flies in the family Tabanidae in the insect Order (biology), order Diptera. They are often large and agile in flight, and only the female horseflies bite animals, including humans, to hematophagy, obtai ...

(Tabanidae) from India and Assam with Gertrude Ricardo, a scientist from the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. In 1911 he published a noted study of South American

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

(flies) with R. Gonzales-Rincones.Cambefort, Y. "Knowledge of Diptera in France from the beginning to the early twentieth century." INSECTS AND ILLNESSES: CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 50 (2008): 173-185. Surcouf was a difficult person to work with and clashed with his peers, particularly, for example,

Eugene Seguy Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

. In 1920 he distinguished the genus Caiusa from Phumosia in the family

Calliphoridae The Calliphoridae (commonly known as blow flies, blow-flies, carrion flies, bluebottles, greenbottles, or cluster flies) are a family of insects in the order Diptera, with almost 1,900 known species. The maggot larvae, often used as fishing ba ...

based on flies he discovered in southern India and in Australia.Surcouf, J.M.R.

920 __NOTOC__ Year 920 ( CMXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December 17 – Romanos I has himself crowned co-emperor of the Byzan ...

Révision des Muscidæ testaceæ. Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, (5) 6 (‘1914’, ‘1919’), 27–124. He was a member of the

Société entomologique de France The Société entomologique de France, or French Entomological Society, is devoted to the study of insects. The society was founded in 1832 in Paris, France. The society was created by eighteen Parisian entomologists on January 31, 1832. The first ...

starting in 1905, and the president of the Société entomologique de France in 1921.

References

French entomologists Presidents of the Société entomologique de France 1873 births 1934 deaths National Museum of Natural History (France) people {{entomologist-stub