Henry Augustus Pilsbry

Henry Augustus Pilsbry (born 7 December 1862 in Iowa City, Iowa, died 26 October 1957 in Lantana, Florida) was an American biologist, malacologist, and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a century.^{[1] [2]} For much of his career, his authority with respect to the classification of certain substantial groups of organisms was unchallenged: barnacles,^{[3] [4]} chitons,^{[5] [6]} North American terrestrial mollusks,^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} and others.

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Pilsbry (not infrequently misspelled Pilsbury) spent his childhood and youth in Iowa. He was called "Harry" Pilsbry then, and developed an early fascination with the limited variety of mollusks he was able to find. He attended the University of Iowa, and received the Bachelor of Science degree there in 1882, but did not immediately find employment in his field of interest. Instead, Henry Pilsbry worked for publishing firms and newspapers for the next several years, but devoted most of his spare time to the study of mollusks.

In 1887, he found employment in New York City as a proofreader, but soon met George W. Tryon, Jr., the resident expert on mollusks at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and architect and author of the on-going multi-volume Manual of Concology. This meeting led, within a few months, to Tryon's hiring Pilsbry as an assistant. He was, no doubt, impressed by the young man's talents as a proofreader, considerable expertise in technical illustration, and especially by his undeniable enthusiasm for the study of mollusks and substantial knowledge of the subject.

Less than three months after Pilsbry began his new job, George Tryon died and his new assistant, only 25 years old, perhaps to the surprise of some, inherited the titles of "Conservator of the Conchology Section" and "Editor" of the Manual of Conchology.

Pilsbry soon proved capable of prodigious efforts, and his scientific output was remarkable. During the next five years he produced hundreds of detailed pages of the Manual of Conchology, preparing many of the plates himself, and founded The Nautilus, an influential journal of malacology which has survived into the 21st century.^[11] He also married during this period, to Adeline Avery. His college, the University of Iowa, honored him with a Doctor of Science degree in 1899 (and he later received two other honorary doctorates: University of Pennsylvania, 1940, and Temple University, 1941).

For almost all of the next 57 years of his long life, Henry Pilsbry spent his hours writing scientific papers, over 3,000 of them, mostly while at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Most of his longest papers were published by the Philadelphia academy. The shorter ones could usually be found in The Nautilus. The large majority of his work carried only his name, although there were sometimes joint or junior authors, some of whom were more patron than scientist. It is notable that Pilsbry did not always confine himself to the several areas of study with which he was already closely associated, but rather would sometimes stray into other fields of science, from geology and paleontology to the taxonomy of brachiopods. ^{[12] [13] [14]}

His field work provided a steady supply of new specimens for study, dissection, and illustration, and a seemingly endless array of new species to name. In fact, Pilsbry named over 5,000 organisms, and the published listing of them requires 218 pages! ^[15] Pilsbry performed extensive amounts of field work, and was clearly an expert in dealing with the outdoors, no matter the conditions. He collected mollusks over virtually the entire United States, and in an atlas of countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Cocos Islands, Cuba, Galapagos Islands, Guatemala, Marquesas Islands, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and other locations as well. His intellectual reach extended even further, through joint efforts with other workers: especially notably Africa with Joseph Becquaert and the Japanese region with Yoichiro Hirase.

Pilsbry suffered a heart attack in late 1957 while working at the Philadelphia Academy. He seemed to recover from this serious occurrence, but died at his winter home in Florida, about a month and a half later, from a similar event.

Henry Augustus Pilsbry is buried in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, at St. Asaph's Church.

Selected Major Works

Pilsbry, H. A. 1892. Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic. Second Series: Pulmonata, 8. (Helicidae, Vol. 6). Philadelphia. 314 pp., 58 pl.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1892. Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic. Vol. XIV. Polyplacophora (chitons). Lepidopleuridae, Ischnochitonidae, Chitonidae, Mopaliidae. Philadelphia. 350 pp.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1893. Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic. Vol. XV. Polyplacophora, (chitons.) Acanthochitidae, Cryptoplacidae and appendix. Tectibranchiata. Philadelphia. 436 pp.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1894. Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic. Second Series: Pulmonata, 9. (Helicidae, Vol. 7.). Philadelphia. 366 pp.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1895. Catalogue of the Marine Mollusks of Japan, with Descriptions of New Species, and Notes on Others Collected by Frederick Stearns. Detroit: F. Stearns. 196 p. [includes 30 species of modern brachiopods]

Pilsbry, H. A. & B. Sharp. 1897-1898. Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic. Vol. XVII. Scaphopoda. Aplacophora. Index to genera and subgenera, volumes II to XVII. Philadelphia. 348 pp.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1900. Mollusca of the Great Smoky Mountains. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 52: 110-150.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1905. Mollusca of the Southwestern States, I: Urocoptidae; Helicidae of Arizona and New Mexico. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 57: 211-290.

Pilsbry, H. A., and Y. Hirase. 1905. Catalogue of the Land and Fresh Water Molluscs of Taiwan (Formosa), with description of new species. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 57: 720-752.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1907. The Barnacles (Cirripedia) Contained in the Collections of the U.S. National Museum. Bul. United States National Museum 60. 122 p.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J.H. Ferriss. 1907. Mollusca of the Ozarkian Fauna. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 58: 529-567.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J.H. Ferriss. 1910. Mollusca of the Southwestern States, III: The Huachuca Mountains, Arizona. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 61: 495-516.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J.H. Ferriss. 1910. Mollusca of the Southwestern States: IV. The Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 62: 44-147.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1915. Mollusca of the Southwestern States, VI: The Hacheta Grande, Florida, and Peloncillo Mountains, New Mexico. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 68: 323-350.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J.H. Ferriss. 1915. Mollusca of the Southwestern States VII: The Dragoon, Mule, Santa Rita, Baboquivari, and Tucson Ranges, Arizona. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 68: 363-418.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1916. The Sessile Barnacles (Cirripedia) Contained in the Collections of the U.S. National Museum, including a monograph of the American species. Bul. United States National Museum 93. 366 p.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J. H. Ferriss. 1917. Mollusca of the Southwestern States VIII: The Black Range, New Mexico. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 69: 83-107.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J. H. Ferriss. 1919. Mollusca of the Southwestern States IX: The Santa Catalina, Rincon, Tortillita and Galiuro Mountains. X. The mountains of the Gila headwaters. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 70: 282-333.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J. H. Ferriss. 1923. Mollusca of the Southwestern States, XI - From the Tucson Range to Ajo, and mountain ranges between the San Padro and Santa Cruz rivers, Arizona. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 75: 47-103.

Pilsbry, H. A., and J. Bequaert. 1927. The Aquatic Mollusks of the Belgian Congo. With a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. Bul. United States National Museum 53: 69-659.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1934. Zoological Results of the Dolan West China Expedition of 1931, Part II, Mollusks. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 86: 5-28.

Pilsbry, H. A., 1939. Land Mollusca of North America north of Mexico vol. I part 1. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. pp. 1-574.

Pilsbry, H. A., 1940. Land Mollusca of North America north of Mexico vol. I part 2. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. pp. 575-994.

Pilsbry, H. A., 1946. Land Mollusca of North America north of Mexico vol. II part 1. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. pp. 1-520.

Pilsbry, H. A., 1948. Land Mollusca of North America north of Mexico vol. II part 2. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. pp. 521-1113.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1948. Inland Mollusks of Northern Mexico. I. The genera Humboltiana, Sonorella, Oreohelix and Ashmunella. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 100: 185-203.

Pilsbry, H. A. 1953. Inland Mollusca of Northern Mexico. II. Urocoptidae, Pupillidae, Strobilopsidae, Valloniidae, ad Cionellidae. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 105: 133-167.

References