Motschulsky, Victor Ivanovich

Victor Motschulsky was born in 1810 in Russia, and became one of the most famous Russian entomologists and greatest coleopterists of his time. He collected extensively from Russia, including Siberia and Russia’s (at the time) possessions of Alaska and California. As a colonel in the military, he had unusual access to travel, and took full advantage of his journeys, collecting and studying Coleoptera in Europe, North Africa, and much of North America in addition to the locations previously mentioned. Indeed, it is sometimes stated that his collecting trips were a cover for military intelligence. He also processed enormous amounts of material collected by others. Motschulsky was a strong-illed, independent, and controversial individual. He was possessive, superficial with his descriptions, rough on specimens, and unconventional with his mounting techniques. This led him to clash with other coleopterists of the time, particularly Kraatz. He died June 5, 1871, at Simferopol, Crimea,...