Aldrich, John Merton - Pennsylvania Photos and Documents
Aldrich, John Merton
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About
Title
Aldrich, John Merton
Subject
Calliphora
Diptera
Micropezidae
Neaspilota
Tachinidae
Description
This folder primarily contains correspondence written by J.M. Aldrich who served as the Associate Curator of Insects at the Smithsonian Institution, formerly known as the United States National Museum. Aldrich specialized in the study of Diptera and collaborated heavily with the American Entomological Society (AES) via the exchange of Diptera specimens and research publications. Aldrich worked closely with E.T. Cresson Jr., the Associate Curator of Entomology at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The two frequently communicated over the course of their tenures as Associate Curators of their respective institutions, sharing research notes, requesting specific specimens, and endorsing each other’s publications. Aldrich also served as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Entomological Society of America and was made a Corresponding Member of the AES in 1924.
One of J.M. Aldrich’s most notable works, Catalogue of the North American Diptera (1905), describes 8,000 fly species, and his progress towards its completion and publication is discussed in the correspondence. His other contributions are creating a description and the name for the fly species, Cyrtophloeba nigripalpis, and bringing attention to the use of the term Ortalis to describe picture-winged flies and how it could be confused for the genus of birds that shared the same name. Other families within Diptera discussed in the correspondence include but are not limited to Asilidae, Sciomyzidae, and Mythicomyiidae. Although a significant portion of specimens were gathered in the United States such as Moscow, Idaho, other specimens were received from overseas expeditions such as Costa Rica.
This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education.
