Hugh Cuming
Hugh Cuming (14 February 1791 – 10 August 1865) was an English collector who was interested in natural history, particularly in conchology and botany. He has been described as the "Prince of Collectors".[1]
Born in England, he spent a number of years in Chile, where he became a successful businessman. He used the money he saved to buy a ship that was specifically built for collecting specimens, and travelled extensively on collecting trips amassing many thousands of specimens. After his death, much of his material was bought by the Natural History Museum in London. A number of species are named after him.
Early life
Cuming was born at Washbrook,
Collecting in Chile, Mexico and the South Pacific
In Valparaiso he met Mr. Nugent, the British consul, and Lieutenant Frambly, a noted conchologist, who both stimulated and assisted him in shipping plants and shells back to England. The specimens were eagerly received, and returning ships brought increasing orders for exotic materials.
In 1826 Cuming gave up his business and completely devoted his time to collecting. For this purpose he commissioned a yacht to be built according to his own specifications. Christened The Discoverer, the yacht was designed expressly for the collection and stowage of objects of natural history. For nearly twelve months Cuming cruised among the islands of the South Pacific, dredging and collecting on sea and shore.
Consumed with the ambition to increase the collection of shells in the British Museum, he consigned numerous cases to that institution. He also sent many more cases of pressed plants and as much living material as possible to the botanical gardens of England.
Shortly afterward plans were made for an extended trip along the coast of Chile and the Pacific coast of Mexico. For two years he explored the Chilean coast, adding plants and shells from as far north as Acapulco, Mexico. Concluding the trip, Cuming returned to England.
The Philippines
In 1835 he made ready for another exploration, this time to the
This enabled him to assemble the richest collection gathered by a single individual up to that time. It included 130,000 specimens of dried plant material, 30,000 conchological species and varieties, large numbers of
His orchid discoveries were numerous, and he became the first to ship living orchids successfully from Manila to England. A number of orchids bear his name: Coelogyne cumingii, Podochilus cumingii, etc. The tree fern Cibotium cumingii is also named after Cuming.[4]
Cuming is commemorated in the scientific names of five species of Philippine reptiles:
After his death
In 1866, after Cuming's death on August 10, 1865, the Natural History Museum of London purchased 82,992 of his specimens for £6,000. Many important conchological works were based on this collection, including Reeve's Conchologia Iconica (1843-1878, 20 volumes) and the Sowerbys' Thesaurus Conchyliorum (1842-1887, five volumes).
Overall, Cuming collected approximately 130,000 herbarium specimens over his life.[6] Botanical specimens collected by Cuming are held by the Moscow University Herbarium, the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of the City of Geneva, Harvard University Herbaria, Copenhagen University Botanical Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, the United States National Herbarium, National Museum of Natural History, France, and the National Herbarium of Victoria Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.[7][8]
Standard author abbreviation
The standard author abbreviation Cuming is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[9]
References
- ^ ISSN 0037-9778.
- ^ Melvill, J.C. (1895). "Epitome of the Life of the late Hugh Cuming, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. etc". Journal of Conchology. 8: 59–70.
- ISBN 978-90-04-32384-1.
- ISBN 0-88192-630-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Cuming", p. 62).
- ^ "Cuming, H." Cyclopaedia of Malesian Collectors. National Herbarium of the Netherlands. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
- ^ Seregin, A.P. (2010). "Collection of Hugh Cuming in the Moscow University Herbarium (MW)". Komarovia. 7 (1–2): 72.
- ^ "The Australasian Virtual Herbarium". The Australasian Virtual Herbarium. Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH). 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Cuming.
External links
- Hugh Cuming Hugh Cuming's work on orchids