Willis Stanley Blatchley (October 6, 1859, North Madison, Connecticut - May 28, 1940, Indianapolis, Indiana) was an American entomologist,

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

, geologist, and author. His studies included Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, and the freshwater

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...

of Indiana. Blatchley described several

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 ...

. His home in Dunedin, Florida, the Willis S. Blatchley House, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. He was born in Connecticut and his parents moved to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

in 1860 a year later. He attended high school in Bainbridge and enrolled at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in 1883, graduating with a B.A. in 1887 and an M.A. in 1891. There he worked under ichthyologist David Starr Jordan and geologist

John Casper Branner John Casper Branner (July 4, 1850 – March 1, 1922)Memorial Res ...

. Blatchley received an honorary degree (LL.D.) from Indiana University in 1921. From 1887-1893 he taught at

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

High School where he was Head of the Science Department from 1887-1893. From 1894-1910 he was State Geologist for Indiana. After being defeated for re-election in 1911, he retired from public office, but continued his natural history work as an amateur. Though much of his work focused on the fauna of Indiana, he traveled to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, Florida, Canada,

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 ...

, and South America (1922–23). Blatchley married Clara A. Fordice (or Fordyce?, 1854–1928), of Russellville, Indiana, on May 2, 1882. They had two sons, Raymond Silliman Blatchley (February 11, 1883 – September 27, 1953, Los Angeles
biography
and Ralph F. Blatchley (1885–1955, Dunedin, Florida).

Bibliography

*''An illustrated descriptive catalogue of the Coleoptera or beetles (exclusive of the Rhynchophora) known to occur in Indiana''. (1910) *''Orthoptera of Northeastern America''. (1920) *''Heteroptera of Eastern North America''. (1926) *11 papers (1927–1930) in the ''Florida Entomologist'') on the

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change in recent years. Several sub ...

of Florida. *''The Indiana Weed Book'' *''Boulder Reveries'' *''Gleanings from Nature'' *''A nature wooing at Ormond by the sea'' *''Gold and Diamonds in Indiana'' *''Woodland Idyls'' *''South America As I Saw It, The observations of a naturalist'' *''In Days Agone: Notes on the Fauna and Flora of Subtropical Florida in the Days When Most of Its Area was a Primeval Wilderness'' *''Indiana Geology and Natural Resources'' *''Orthoptera of Northeastern America with Essential Reference to the Faunas of Indiana and Florida'' *''Heteroptera Or True Bugs of Eastern North America; with Especial Reference to the Faunas of Indiana and Florida'' *''MY NATURE NOOK or Notes on the Natural History of the Vicinity of Dunedin, Florida.'' *''The fishes of Indiana,: With descriptions, notes on habits and distribution in the state'' *''A Catalogue of the Butterflies Known to Occur in Indiana''

External links

Works at Biodiversity Heritage LibraryISGS
Blatchley as a geologist.Portrait.

Biography and type information.

��brief biography at Univ. Nebraska

��Illinois Natural History Survey
Dr. Willis Stanley Blatchley
��Historical Marker, Dunedin, Florida
Rootsweb
��information about marriage

��Clara Fordice, d. December 8, 1928, Dunedin, Florida
DUNEDIN CEMETERY
Dunedin, Pinellas County, Florida—graves of Willis Blatchley, Clara Blatchley, Ralph Blatchley

References

*Anonymous. Obituary illis Blatchley ''Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science'' 50: 1-2. *DAVIS, J. J. WILLIS STANLEY BLATCHLEY. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 34, Number 2, June 1941, pages 279–283(5
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
��Cornell University (see als
Wikispecies entry
��John June Davis, 1885–1965) * Davis, Wm. T. "Dr. Willis Stanley Blatchley". ''Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society'
36:18-19
(1941) {{DEFAULTSORT:Blatchley, Willis 1859 births 1940 deaths American entomologists American geologists American malacologists Indiana University Bloomington alumni