Mary Ball
| Mary Ball | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1812 Cobh, County Cork, Ireland |
| Died | 1898 (aged 85–86) Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Entomology |
Mary Ball (1812–1898) was an Irish naturalist and entomologist most noted for her studies of Odonata and for her discovery of the curious phenomenon of stridulation in aquatic bugs.
Mary Ball was born in 1812, the second daughter of Bob Stawell Ball and his wife Mary née Green. She was born near Cobh, County Cork but shortly moved with the family to nearby Youghal, County Cork. Mary had three siblings who lived into adulthood: Robert, Bent (1806-1860), and Anne, a well-known algologist. The family was Protestant and "involved in trade."
There is not much known about Mary's training, but as a middle-class family she certainly would have access to a microscope and the latest volumes of natural history and scientific classification of the times. It has been recorded that Robert started collecting specimens with his father at the age of five. It can be assumed that Mary would have participated as well. Robert encouraged Mary in her early insect studies, purchasing for her a copy of James Stephens' Systematic Catalogue of British insects, published in 1829. In this she detailed the insects in her growing collection.
In 1833 Mary began a correspondence with the Belfast naturalist William Thompson. Her insect collection became large for the time and was very well known. Thompson named about twenty species of molluscs and crustaceans in her honour, including a small spiral snail Rissoa balliae in 1856.
Mary concentrated on collecting shells and insects, accumulating what was considered one of the best molluscs in the country at the time, though it was disposed after her death. One of her most interesting finds was a specimen of the migratory locust figured in John Curtis British Entomology- Folio 608 Locusta christii dated 1 August 1836.. "In the cabinets of Miss Ball and the author"- "Another specimen, captured last September at Ardmore in the county of Waterford by Miss M. Ball has been kindly transmitted to me for my inspection by Mr Robert Ball of Dublin. It is of the same sex as the one figured but the elytra are much more spotted".
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