Museum off Comparative Zoology

The Museum off Comparative Zoology (or Natural history museum of comparative zoology) was founded in 1859 within the Université Harvard thanks to the efforts of Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) which inherits its collections. The Natural history museum is devoted at the same time on the conservation and enrichment of the collections presents, but also on research tasks, in particular in the field of the evolution, a little paradoxical situation taking into account the fact that its creator was one of the large last zoologist S creationnist S.

The Entomology

It is about the most important collection of North America and counts more seven million specimens and standard S of almost 33.000 species. It is representative of world fauna and is specialized on principal the order S of Coléoptère (48% of the total), of Hyménoptère (33%), of Lépidoptère (7%) and of Diptère (6%).

The Herpétologie

Founded in 1859, the department of herpetology lodges 325.000 specimens including 3.000 types. In addition to its specimens preserved in alcohol, the collection contains also 7.000 skeletons, 20.000 histological assemblies.

The Ichtyology

The Poisson S are studied in Harvard since its creation in particular thanks to William Dandridge Peck (1763-1822), the first professor of Natural history in Harvard, which had studied the fauna of New England. Its collection is still preserved at the Natural history museum. Today, the ichtyologic collection is one of best world.

Invertebrate S

This department is one of vastest and the oldest collections of Métazoaire S and Protozoaire S of the world. It shelters nearly a million specimens including nearly 10.000 types.

The invertebrates Fossil S

Louis Agassiz, who had made appear a monograph on fossil fish, largely contributed to initiate a vast collection of fossil invertebrates. His/her son, Alexander Emanuel Agassiz (1835-1910), which succeeds to him, will continue the work of his/her father and will still enrich the collections, often thanks to its own money. Today, those count more than one million specimens and more than 10.000 types.

The Malacology

The Natural history museum shelters the vastest collection of Mollusque S private of the world. It counts some 5.000 types among the 300.000 catalogued specimens, as much are not it yet. The library counts more than 20.000 documents.

The Mammalogie

The Natural history museum counts one of the vast collections of the world; its richness, so much from the historical point of view, than geographical or taxinomic, is exceptional. 85.000 specimens are preserved there whose 342 Holotype S. the oldest specimens go back to 1836.

The collection of Primate S of Madagascar, Africa and South America is particularly important. The action of the department of zoology is continued with an aim of preserving the maximum of specimens but also of accumulating the maximum of samples of fabric and data (on the ecological manners and requirements for example).

The library

It is rested by Louis Agassiz in 1861 which gives him its own library and by the repurchase of the Belgian paleontologist Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck (1809-1887). At the end of 1861, the library has 6.000 volumes.

Today, it shelters 274.000 volumes of monograph and periodical, as well as a large collection of illustrations naturalists. The library was renamed Ernst Mayr Library in 2005, after the death of this large zoologist, Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), director of the Natural history museum of 1961 with 1970.

External bond

Site of the Natural history museum: it offers many catalogs on line of the collections and library.

Random links: