SCARABS Ld Mo Ro Ki Ic Ug Gw Vk Qa Ka Ti Fw
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SCARABS ld mo ro ki ic ug gw vk qa ka ti fw Occasional Issue Number 77 Print ISSN 1937-8343 Online ISSN 1937-8351 May, 2015 WITHIN THIS ISSUE Henry Howden Obituary 1 Remembering Henry Howden .............................. 6 Last Christmas Greetings from the Howdens ......... 18 Note from the Family .... 18 The Unsung Hero ........... 19 Collecting Memories....... 20 Automotive Discovery .. 22 Final Image of the How- dens ................................... 26 BACK ISSUES Available At These Sites: Coleopterists Society www.coleopsoc.org/de- fault.asp?Action=Show_ Resources&ID=Scarabs University of Nebraska www-museum.unl.edu/ research/entomology/ Scarabs-Newsletter.htm EDITORS Henry Fuller Howden - 1925-2014 Rich Cunningham [email protected] Olivier Décobert [email protected] Photo Courtesy of Vladislav Maly Barney Streit barneystreit@hotmail. com Ed. Note: Reprinted Henry Fuller Howden died 21 May in 1949. This same year he married from the Bulletin of the 2014 in Victoria, British Colum- Anne Elizabeth Thompson, who Entomological Society bia just 2 months shy of his 89th was also an avid entomologist and of Canada, Vol. 46 (4), pages 203-205 (2014), birthday. Working on a manuscript recent graduate of the University with permission of the up until the end, he maintained his of Maryland. Leaving Maryland, Editor. sense of humour and joked with the newly-weds moved to North doctors and nurses at the Royal Ju- Carolina State University (NCSU) bilee Hospital that they still hadn’t where Anne studied the succes- found a cure for old age. sion of insects on pig carcasses for her MSc, and Henry worked Born in Baltimore, Maryland, 19 on the taxonomy and biology of August 1925, Henry began collect- Geotrupine beetles under Profes- ing insects at an early age. By the sor Paul O. Ritcher. Anne would time he was 12, his moth and but- later switch to working on weevils, terfly collection was comprehen- a group with more agreeable feed- sive enough to win him an honor- ing habits, in the eyes and noses of ary membership in the Maryland many observers. Academy of Sciences. A few years later he liquidated his Lepidoptera, During their graduate time in used the proceeds to purchase his Raleigh, Henry and Anne be- first set of Cornell drawers, and came good friends with Henry K. then focussed on building up his Townes, the Ichneumonid special- beetle collection, especially scar- ist, and his wife Marjorie. Both abs. After completing his school- couples were avid collectors and ing at a local military academy, would go on field trips together in he was accepted into the Depart- the U.S. southeast. On one occa- ment of Entomology & Zoology sion, Howden recounts that he got at the University of Maryland in a useful lesson in frugality from 1941. His undergraduate train- the elder Henry. During a break ing was interrupted in 1944 when in collecting, the group headed he turned 19 and received a draft to a local restaurant for dinner. notice. Enlisting in the U.S. Army, Towards the end of the meal, he hoped to join their entomology Townes asked his wife to put the corps, but instead was assigned to excess bread rolls into her purse so the Air Force as a non-commis- they could enjoy them the follow- sioned officer. After completing his ing day. Marjorie complied with military service at Hamilton Field the request, which was observed near San Francisco, he returned to by the owner of the restaurant. Maryland to finish his BSc in 1946 The owner came over and asked and was accepted directly into if they would like any more rolls. their graduate program. With all of Completely unflappable, Townes the entomology positions taken, he replied “yes, that would be nice”, made a brief foray into the Zoolo- so the owner was obliged to bring gy Department to study fish for an over another basket of rolls. These MSc, then returned to insects and were promptly transferred into received his MSc in Entomology Marjorie’s bag before the bill was Page 2 paid and the two couples returned dian National Collection (CNC) to collecting. Learning to pinch through extensive field work, while pennies in order to extend fieldwork continuing to publish on the tax- was a foundation of the Townes onomy of scarabs and other beetle philosophy, and one that Henry families, as well as papers on insect Howden with his Scottish ancestry, biogeography. was quick to adopt. In 1967 at the invitation of Phil Henry was awarded his PhD in Darlington, Henry took a 6 month 1953, and with it the distinction of sabbatical at Harvard Univer- being the first to receive a Doctor- sity. He continued to develop the ate in Entomology from NCSU. He concepts of biogeography as they joked that it stood for Post Hole applied to insect evolution, as a Digger, a tool that he found useful visiting Agassiz Lecturer. When he for excavating scarabs from deep returned to Ottawa, he extended sandy burrows. With five publica- his leave of absence from the Ento- tions completed, he accepted a mology Research Institute (Canada teaching job at the University of Department of Agriculture) and Tennessee in Knoxville. He taught began lecturing at Carleton Uni- general biology, entomology, and versity at the invitation of Herbert evolution for the next few years, H.J. Nesbitt, the Dean of Science. while continuing his research on Henry apparently enjoyed teach- beetles. ing and the academic freedom of the university, and certainly didn’t Since he was only paid by the uni- miss the ever-increasing red tape versity during the academic year, and bureaucracy of government. he supplemented his income by He formally resigned his govern- becoming a consultant to the U.S. ment position on 31 August 1970, Atomic Energy Commission at Oak having accepted a full professor- Ridge during the summer months, ship in the Department of Biology investigating the effects of radiation at Carleton. His position in the on insects. Henry’s enthusiasm for Department of Agriculture was field work, support for the newly- promptly refilled by Aleš Smetana, founded Coleopterists Society, and who had been at the CNC for sev- his publication record caught the eral years on a visiting fellowship. attention of entomologists at the Department of Agriculture in Ot- Once established at Carleton, tawa. They were keen to recruit him Henry was successful in getting to work north of the border. After NSERC grants that allowed him some negotiations, Henry accepted to purchase a scanning electron a position as a research scientist microscope, hire technicians, and with the Canada Department of carry out field work during the Agriculture and moved the fam- summer months. For the next 25 ily to Ottawa in August 1957. He years he taught courses in sys- spent the next decade building up tematic entomology, evolution & the beetle collection at the Cana- biogeography, and animal system- Page 3 atics. He supervised numerous un- Australian material were deposited dergraduate honours theses, as well in the Australian National Insect as 9 MSc and 10 PhD students, and Collection in Canberra. several Postdoctoral Fellows. While most of his graduate students were The long-term care of insect col- entomologists, a few studied fish, lections was of major concern to birds, or amphipods. The academic Henry. In 1989 he represented the year at Carleton was broken up by Canadian Society of Zoologists at spring break and summer holidays. a Parliamentary hearing in Ottawa In most years, Henry and Anne into Bill C-12, the Museums Act. would arrange collecting trips He highlighted the importance to Central or South America to of collections and urged support coincide with these breaks. The for the Museums Act. Putting his numerous insects collected by money where his mouth was, he beating, black-lighting, or pitfall encouraged the director of the trapping would be brought back to newly re-named Canadian Muse- Ottawa in Whirl-pak bags or glass um of Nature (CMN) to hire an en- vials charged with ethyl acetate, to tomologist by offering to donate his be mounted up and studied over and Anne’s beetle collection to the the following winter. Specimens museum, along with a sizeable cash not of interest would be passed on endowment. After all, how could to other specialists in their large the museum purport to represent circle of friends. Many of these ex- nature, when it lacked insects, one changes took place in person at the of nature’s most successful animal Entomological Society of America groups. Henry’s argument was (ESA) and Coleopterists Soci- sound, and he got a signed agree- ety annual meetings, which both ment that the CMN would accept Henry and Anne tried to attend on their collection plus the endow- a regular basis. Their attendance at ment. This would eventually lead Entomological Society of Canada Henry and Anne to donate over (ESC) meetings was much less fre- 463,000 specimens and $300,000 to quent as Henry explained, because the CMN in the years to follow. most of the taxonomists in Can- ada worked in Ottawa or at least Henry retired from Carleton in the passed through it on a frequent spring of 1995 as he approached basis. Henry’s love of field work his 70th birthday. Retirement from and his “itchy feet” meant that sab- the university didn’t slow down his baticals from teaching were taken research, as both he and Anne were on a regular basis, and far from welcomed as Honorary Research home. The typical destination was Associates at the CMN where they Australia, where he and Anne were were provided office space and welcomed by the CSIRO as visiting support.