Charles Haskins Townsend

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Charles Haskins Townsend
Miami, Florida
Alma materAcademy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
Spouse(s)Ella Townsend, nee Bean, (1854–1935)
Scientific career
FieldsZoology
InstitutionsUnited States Fish Commission
New York Aquarium

Charles Haskins Townsend (September 29, 1859 – January 28, 1944) was an American zoologist and naturalist who served as the director of the New York Aquarium, from 1902 to 1937.

Early life

The son of the Reverend Daniel W. Townsend and Elizabeth Townsend, née Kier, he was born in

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.[3] He subsequently worked at the Smithsonian Institution.[3]

Career

In 1883, he became assistant

Castle Garden, from 1902 until his retirement in 1937.[1]

Memberships and honors

In 1902 Townsend was an expert before the Russo-American fisheries arbitration at The Hague.[1] In 1912-13 he was president of the American Fisheries Society.[1] He was elected a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences.[1]

He is commemorated in the names of Townsend's shearwater and the Guadalupe fur seal (Arctophoca townsendi).

He is also commemorated in the scientific names of three species of reptiles: Amphisbaena townsendi, Anolis townsendi, and Sphaerodactylus townsendi.[5]

Writing

He wrote extensively on fisheries, whaling, fur seals, deep-sea exploration and zoology, including ornithology and herpetology. With Hugh McCormick Smith he wrote The Pacific Salmons section of Trout and Salmon (New York: Macmillan, 1902), a volume of Caspar Whitney's prestigious American Sportsman's Library.[6]

Selected publications

  • Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer 'Corwin' in the Arctic Ocean in 1885 (1887)
  • Porpoise in Captivity (1914)
  • The Public Aquarium: Its Construction, Equipment and Management (1928)
  • Guide to the New York Aquarium (1937)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Townsend, Charles Haskins" in Who Was Who in America: Science and Technology. (1976). Marquis Who's Who. p. 610.
  2. ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Townsend, Charles Haskins" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  3. ^ a b "The South Seas - C.H. Townsend to Speak on That Subject," The Evening Republican, Meadville, PA., p. 2, Friday, May 29, 1903
  4. ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Deep-Sea Exploration" . Encyclopedia Americana.
  5. . ("Townsend", p. 267).
  6. ^ Sage, Dean; Townsend, Charles Haskins; Smith, Hugh Mccormick; Harris, William Charles (1902). "The Pacific Salmons by C. H. Townsend and H. M. Smith". In: Salmon and Trout.

Further reading

  • National Cyclopaedia of American Biography
    , (1945) v.32, p. 37.
  • Grant, Chapman. (1947). "Dr. Charles Haskins Townsend". Herpetologica 4(1): 38–40.

External links