Mary Treat
| Mary Davis Treat | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 7, 1830 Trumansburg, New York |
| Died |
April 11, 1923 (aged 92) Pembroke, New York |
| Occupation |
naturalist and botanist
|
naturalist and botanist
Mary Lua Adelia Davis Treat (7 September 1830 in Trumansburg, New York – 11 April 1923 in Pembroke, New York) was a naturalist and correspondent with Charles Darwin. Treat's contributions to both botany and entomology were extensive—four species of plants and animals were named after her, including an amaryllis, Zephyranthes treatae (now called Zephyranthes atamasca var. treatae), and an ant species (Aphaenogaster treatae).
Born Mary Davis to a middle-class family in Trumansburg, New York, she was mostly raised in Ohio, where she attended public and private girls' schools. Davis married Dr. Joseph Burrell Treat, an abolitionist and professor, in 1863; they lived in Iowa and in 1868 they moved to Vineland, New Jersey.
After her move to New Jersey, Treat began her scientific studies in earnest, and collaborated with her husband on entomology articles and research. Treat’s first scientific article was a note published in The American Entomologist when she was 39 years old. Over 28 years she wrote 76 scientific and popular articles as well as five books. Her research quickly expanded from entomology to ornithology and botany, detailing bird and plant life in the southern New Jersey region. Following separation from her husband in 1874, Treat supported herself by publishing popular science articles for periodicals such as Harpers and Queen. Beginning in 1870, she published popular naturalist pieces in Garden and Forest, Hearth and Home, Harper's, and Lippincott's.
Her book, Injurious Insects of the Farm and Field, originally published in 1882, was reprinted five times. She also collected plants and insects for other researchers, one of whom was the eminent Harvard botanist Asa Gray. It was through Gray that she was introduced to Charles Darwin. Treat wrote letters to engage in botanical and entomological discourse not only with Darwin and Gray, but Auguste Forel and Gustav Mayr as well. She traveled to Florida several times between 1876 and 1878 to investigate insectivorous plants further. On one of these trips, she discovered the lily Zephyranthes treatae (named after her by Sereno Watson) and discovered that another lily was not extinct.
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