- Tryon Reakirt
Tryon Reakirt (21 April 1844,
Philadelphia - ?) was an Americanentomologist .He was interested in the
Lepidoptera of theAmericas and thePhilippines and published nine articles in the "Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia" and a tenth in the "Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia", the last appearing in 1868.William Henry Edwards (1822-1909) regarded him as one of the best North-American specialists in the Rhopalocera.Some details of his life are known from a correspondence which he exchanged with
Ferdinand Heinrich Hermann Strecker (1836-1901), as well as letters written by his father, John Reakirt. In August 1868, he tried to sell his collection via Strecker to the New York Lyceum (todayAmerican Museum of Natural History ) for 1800 dollars but he learned more than one year more that this sum was not to be had. He then tried to sell it to Reading Natural History Society for 1400 dollars. But there too, the discussions failed.F.H.H. Strecker then purchased the collection and an agreement of payment was then established. But F.H.H. Strecker did not honour any of the payments envisaged, plunging Reakirt into great financial distress. The correspondence between the two men ceased after a last letter dated August 18, 1870. At the beginning of 1871, Reakirt left the United States of America for
Lima in Peru. A little time after, the two companies which he had founded filed for bankruptcy and an investigation was opened against Reakirt. Reakirt then began a new series of correspondence with F.H.H. Strecker. He inquired in particular to know the countries not having an agreement of extradition with the United States. He lived then under the name of T Thomas Reugert. In other missives, Reakirt considers a system allowing him, thanks to Strecker, to invest funds with theNew York Stock Exchange . The last preserved envelope is empty but the postal seal suggests that Reakirt was then inRio de Janeiro . It is known only that he was sick withdysentery . This is the last known news of Reakirt. The investigation was finally closed after the death of his father, John Reakirt and the supposed death of Tyron Reakirt.The Reakirt collection, incorporated in that of F.H.H. Strecker, joined those preserved by the natural history museum of the
Academy of Sciences of Chicago .References
* F. Martin Brown (1964). Tryon Reakirt (1844-?), Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 18 (4) : 211-214.French Wikipedia (translation)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
