John Xantus de Vesey a.k.a. de Csíktaplócza ( hu, Csíktaplóczai (Vese) Xántus János, 5 October 1825 – 13 December 1894) was a Hungarian exile and

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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. Xantus (the aristocratic title ''de Vesey'' was an affectation, of which he had several variations) was born Xántus János, in Csokonya, Somogy,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. Trained as a lawyer, he served as an officer in the nationalist uprisings of 1848–1849 in the

Hungarian Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground ...

. Captured and exiled to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, he was arrested again, and escaped to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

via

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1850. In the U.S. he pursued a variety of occupations, including bookseller, druggist, a teacher, and hospital steward in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. In the Army he met Dr.

William Alexander Hammond William Alexander Hammond (28 August 1828 – 5 January 1900) was an American military physician and neurologist. During the American Civil War he was the eleventh Surgeon General of the United States Army (1862–1864) and the founder of the Ar ...

, a collector for the noted zoologist Spencer Fullerton Baird. Working under Hammond as an assistant surgeon, he soon developed an interest in natural history and became a gifted collector himself. In 1860 he was stationed as a tidal observer at Cabo San Lucas, on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, where he collected natural history specimens for the

United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. They still have a collection originating from him. While in Baja California, he published in Hungarian an account that purported to narrate his travels and observations of native antiquities, but which in fact was plagiarized from accounts referring to other regions. He corresponded extensively with Baird, and managed to use the support of Baird and Hammond (later Surgeon General of the United States Army), getting them to write letters of recommendation on his behalf. On the basis of these he was given a

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

ar position in

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 ...

, a position he promptly lost after embarrassing the Department of State by recognising a local rebelling warlord. Soon after this he returned to Hungary. In 1869 he joined the Austro-Hungarian East Asiatic Expedition, but left it late in 1869 and spent some time in Sarawak before returning to Hungary late in 1870. For 30 years until his death in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in 1894 he served as the Director of the Zoological Garden of Budapest and as

curator A curator (from la, cura, 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 parti ...

of ethnography at the

Hungarian National Museum The Hungarian National Museum ( hu, Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum) was founded in 1802 and is the national museum for the history, art, and archaeology of Hungary, including areas not within Hungary's modern borders, such as Transylvania; it is not to ...

, as well as undertaking collecting expeditions in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. Several

zoological 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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and dis ...

and

botanical Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

have been named for him: Animals: *'' Synthliboramphus hypoleucus'' – Xantus's murrelet Scripps'_Murrelet_until_2012.html" ;"title="Scripps's_Murrelet.html" ;"title="lso known as Guadalepe murrelet; considered conspecific with Scripps's Murrelet">Scripps' Murrelet until 2012">Scripps's_Murrelet.html" ;"title="lso known as Guadalepe murrelet; considered conspecific with Scripps's Murrelet">Scripps' Murrelet until 2012*''Hylocharis xantusii'' – Xantus's hummingbird *''Labrisomus xanti'' – largemouth blenny, rock blenny *''Halichoeres xanti'' – earmuff wrasse (current scientific name, ''Halichoeres bicolor'') *''Umbrina xanti'' – Polla drum, golden drum, golden croaker *'' Phyllodactylus xanti'' – Xantus' leaf-toed gecko, leaf-toed gecko *'' Portunus xantusii'' – Xantus' swimming crab * Xantusiidae, the night-lizards family, plus the subfamily Xantusiinae, and the genus '' Xantusia'' Plants: *'' Clarkia xantiana'' – Xantus' clarkia, gunsight fairyfan *'' Euphorbia xanti'' – shrubby euphorbia *'' Chaenactis xantiana'' – Xantus' pincushion, Mojave pincushion *'' Chorizanthe xanti'' – Xantus' spineflower *'' Polygala xanti'' – Xantus's milkwort *'' Mimosa xanti'' *'' Solanum xanti''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xantus de Vesey, Janos 1826 births 1894 deaths 19th-century Hungarian zoologists Hungarian ornithologists Hungarian exiles Hungarian expatriates in the Czech lands Hungarian expatriates in the United States Hungarian expatriates in England Hungarian nobility Hungarian people of Greek descent People from Somogy County Hungarian ethnographers