Packard, Alpheus (1839 - 1905)

Genre: Non-Fiction - Scholarly

Alpheus Spring Packard was born and raised in Brunswick, ME and graduated from Bowdoin College (1861), received his MD from Maine Medical School (1864) and BS from Harvard (1864). In 1860, he took part in the Williams College expedition to Labrador and the again in 1864, as a part of the expedition of marine artist William Bradford.

He served as assistant surgeon of the First Maine Veteran Volunteers during the Civil War, then was the librarian and custodian of the Boston Society of Natural History (1865), curator of the Essex Institute (1866) and director of the Peabody Academy of Science (1867-1878). From 1871-1873, he was entomologist of Massachusetts and a member of the U.S. Entomological Commission form 1877-1882. He taught geology and zoology at Brown University. He gained recognition in his field, being elected to several national and international zoological societies.

Selected Bibliography

  • Record of American Entomology for the Year 1868 (ed.) (1869)
  • Guide to the Study of Insects: And a Treatise on those Injurious and Beneficial to Crops: For the Use of Colleges, Farm-schools, and Agriculturists (1870)
  • A Text-Book of Entomology: Including the Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Metamorphoses of Insects, for Use in Agricultural and Technical Schools and Colleges as well as by the Working Entomologist (1898)