![William Miles Maskell 1839-1898](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/William_Miles_Maskell_1839-1898.png)
William Miles Maskell (5 October 1839 – 1 May 1898) was a New Zealand farmer, politician and
entomologist.
Early life
Born in
Mapperton
Mapperton is a hamlet and civil parish in Dorset, England, south-east of Beaminster. Dorset County Council estimated that the population of the parish was 60 in 2013.
Parish
The parish of Mapperton is comparatively small at . The population h ...
, Dorset, England to Mary Scott and
William Maskell, an
Anglican clergyman, he attended school at St Mary's College in
Oscott
Oscott is a ward in the northwest of Birmingham, England, within the formal district of Perry Barr.
The Ward is centred on the area known as Old Oscott, originally just "Oscott", and should not be confused with nearby New Oscott. It includes th ...
, Birmingham, and later in Paris, before being commissioned an
ensign
An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...
in the
11th Regiment of Foot with which he served for just under two years.
He first came to New Zealand to
Lyttelton, in 1860 aboard . He eventually became involved in the political campaigns of
Frederick Weld
Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand, sixth Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier of New Zealand, ...
and
Charles Clifford. He returned to England sometime between 1861 and 1863, but returned by September 1865, purchasing a property in Broadleaze near
Leithfield
Leithfield is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand. It is on State Highway 1, south of Amberley and north of Christchurch and 11.8 kilometers north of Waikuku. The Leithfield area consists of two semi-distinct areas, Leithfield Beac ...
, Canterbury a short while after.
He became registrar of the newly formed
University of New Zealand
The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...
in 1876 and held this position until his death.
Maskell was married to Lydia Cooper Brown on 15 September 1874 in two ceremonies, one
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and one
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
. After Lydia's death in 1883, he married Alice Ann McClean in 1886.
Political career
In 1866, Maskell was elected to represent Sefton on the
Canterbury Provincial Council, a position which he held until the provinces were abolished in 1876. He also served as provincial secretary and treasurer during the last year on the Council.
Maskell contested the
Ashley electorate twice for a seat in the New Zealand parliament. On both occasions, first in the
1871 general election,
and then in the
1876 general election,
he was unsuccessful against
John Evans Brown. After this, he took no further active part in politics.
Entomology
Around 1873, Maskell became interested in
entomology and wrote a book, ''An Account of the Insects Noxious to Agriculture and Plants in New Zealand'', which mostly concerned pests in the
Coccoidea
Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than t ...
family. Later, as his work became more well known, he was sent insect samples from a variety of locations, including Asia,
Fiji, Hawaii and the Americas, which resulted in him proposing over 330 species names.
Maskell's personal collection of Coccoidea specimens which was regarded as scientifically significant and was acquired by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture. In 1906, at the request of Dr C.L Marlett, Assistant Chief of the United States Bureau of Entomology, the collection was loaned to the Bureau for study by
Emily R. Morrison. The collection was returned to the New Zealand Department of Agriculture in 1922 and is now housed at the
New Zealand Arthropod Collection
The New Zealand Arthropod Collection is a collection of terrestrial invertebrates held by Maanaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Auckland, New Zealand.http://biocol.org/institutional-collection/new-zealand-arthropod-collection It specialises i ...
.
Maskell particularly liked studying the internal
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
of insects, probably due to his fascination with
physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
and
microscopy, and his work was also unique in that he studied immature stages of males and females as well as the mature females.
After experimenting with
kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
application, Maskell became an advocate of
biological control of pests, which involves finding their natural
predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s. He helped
Albert Koebele of the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
collect vedalia "ladybird" beetles (
Rodolia cardinalis), a predator of
cottony cushion scale, which had become a devastating pest of Californian
citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
farms.
[Paul DeBach and David Rosen, ''Biological Control by Natural Enemies'' 2nd ed. 1991 p.141 ] In its native Australia this pest was kept in check (so
F. S. Crawford found) by a dipterous fly
Cryptochetum iceryae
''Cryptochetum iceryae'', the cottony cushion scale parasite, is a species of scale parasite fly in the family Cryptochetidae. Originating in Australia, it was deliberately introduced to California in the 1880s in an attempt to control cottony ...
which injected its eggs into the scale insect, which was then devoured by the resultant
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e.
Maskell also studied
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...
s,
protozoa and microscopic
algae, publishing more than 70 research papers on these topics. He was also a strong opponent of
Darwinism and his arguments helped to shape several scientific debates of the time.
Death
Maskell died in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
on 1 May 1898 at his home from complications that arose after a serious operation. He was survived by his second wife, and he did not have any children.
Bibliography
An account of the insects noxious to agriculture and plants in New Zealand. The scale insects (Coccididæ)Wellington, N.Z. State Forests and Agricultural Dept.,1887.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maskell, William Miles
1839 births
1898 deaths
New Zealand farmers
New Zealand entomologists
Members of the Canterbury Provincial Council
Members of Canterbury provincial executive councils
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1871 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1875–1876 New Zealand general election
People from West Dorset District
English emigrants to New Zealand