Sergiusz Graf von Toll (22 November 1893 – 19 December 1961) was a Polish entomologist who specialised in

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, and are thus harder to ...

and particularly

Coleophoridae __NOTOC__ The Coleophoridae are a family of small moths, belonging to the huge superfamily Gelechioidea. Collectively known as case-bearers, casebearing moths or case moths, this family is represented on all continents, but the majority are foun ...

. He was a member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society o ...

Education

Toll was born on 22 November 1893 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, the son of Alexander Toll and his wife Adelaide (or Anna). He had four elder brothers and sisters. He came from a noble family; his great-grandfather, General Karol Toll, was made a count by

Nicholas I of Russia , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date = ...

and the family owned Uniejów Castle at

Łódź Voivodeship Łódź Voivodeship (also known as Lodz Province, or by its Polish name ''Województwo łódzkie'' ) is a province- voivodeship in central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Łódź Voivodeship (1975–1999) and the Sier ...

in central Poland. He received his schooling in Warsaw and went to the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

where he studied law. During World War I, the university was evacuated to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, and while there, he added

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

to the subjects he was studying. In 1918, he was awarded his PhD in law. He had already developed his interest in butterflies and moths and while in Russia he studied the lepidoptera of the Rostov region.

Career

left, Uniejów Castle After the war, the family's castle was confiscated, and his parents moved to Bydgoszcz in North Poland. By 1924, Toll had returned to Poland. In 1930 he started work as an apprentice at the National Scientific Institute in Bydgoszcz, and between then and 1934 he studied the lepidoptera of the region, joining the Polish Entomological Society and founding its North Silesian branch. By 1937 he was working at the

Silesian Museum Silesian Museum in Katowice ( pl, Muzeum Śląskie w Katowicach) is a museum in the City of Katowice, Poland. History The museum was founded in 1929 by the Silesian Sejm, while the region was recovering from the Silesian Uprisings. In the XX ...

at Katowice, and also doing teaching work. His interest in Lepidoptera continued, and after World War II he became the head of the Nature Conservancy Department of the Directorate of State Forests. He became a member of the editorial board of the '' Microlepidoptera Palaearctica'', and was writing the

section, a volume with 1500 pages and 5000 drawings. He had nearly finished this monograph in 1961 when he developed

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these typical symptoms. Severe complications of a ru ...

, and died of heart failure soon after surgery.

Research

Toll's research was mainly concentrated on the smaller moths of 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, and are thus harder to ...

group, specialising from 1929 on the

Tortricidae The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genus ...

and

Nepticulidae Nepticulidae is a family of very small moths with a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by eyecaps over the eyes (see also Opostegidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). These pigmy moths or midget moths, as they are commonly known, incl ...

families, and from 1939 onwards, on the

family, on which he was still working when he died. He reared many caterpillars at home, and worked out the life cycle of a number of species. He accumulated a large collection of insects, and donated about 40,000 specimens to the Municipal Museum at Rostov. About 100,000 specimens were given to the of the

. He also collected about 8,000 bird eggs and 12,000 butterflies and moths during his time living in Bydgoszcz. He

scientifically described A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

over 200 lepidopteran species, and undertook faunal surveys of several parts of Poland. Sergiusz Toll Jozefina Toll graves

List of works

*Toll, S.Gr.v., 1936. Untersuchung der Genitalien bei Pyrausta purpuralis L. und P. ostrinalis Hb., nebst Beschreibung 11 neuer Microlepidopteren-Arten. Ann. Mus. Zool. Polonici 11:403–413, pis. 47–49.Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washingtom, Vol.84
/ref>
Toll, S.Gr.v., 1941, Die Genitalien der europäischen Hyponomeuta. – Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereines (26): 170–176, Pl. XVII-XX.
*Toll, S.Gr.v., 1953. Rodzina Eupistidae Polski.''Documenta Physiographica Poloniae'' 32 (1952): 1–292, pl. 1-38.

References

External links

www.nhm.ac.uk – National History Museum: Bibliographic record on Sergiusz Graf von Toll
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toll, Sergiusz Graf von Polish entomologists Polish lepidopterists 1893 births 1961 deaths University of Warsaw alumni People from Łódź Voivodeship 20th-century Polish zoologists