Haris Attila: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin - Natura Somogyiensis 29. (Kaposvár, 2016)
Early History of the Aculeata research in Hungary from the 16th till the 19th century (1560–1800)
Haris, A.: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin 47 Franker. He, as calvinist pastor, serviced at Ónod, Bodrogkeresztúr, Szilágysomlyó than Nagybánya. Later he had to escape to Transylvania from the persecution of catholic counter-reformation. In Transylvania, he worked in Magyarigen and finally in Székelyudvarhely. In 1691, he translated and also completed with his own observations the zoological work of Wolfgang Franzius: História animalum (1612). This is the first Hungarian language zoological book which was issued only in 1702, 3 years after the death of the author. The "Egy Jeles Vad-kert" is divided into 5 books. Insects are discussed in the 5th book. Hymenoptera species are detailed in the 3rd part of the 5th book. The following hymenopterous insects are discussed: Vespa crabro, Vespula vulgaris, Apis melifica and the ants. We may learn some very interesting contemporary beliefs from this work (which are presented as scientific facts) like: "wasps are born from carcasses of dead horses" or "there are some venomous wasps which flies onto dead vipers where they grease their stings with the venom of dead vipers". These beliefs are probably taken over from the work of Franzius. On the other hand, his personal observations are proved to be correct and progressive. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (10th July 1658 Bologna - 1st. November 1733 Bologna), Italian bom scientist-polymath, diplomat, traveler, military officer. "A thousand faces, universal man who made a transition between the Italian generals in the Hungarian battlefields of the Ottoman era and the philosopher intellectuals of the age of Enlightenment". The young Luigi was a descendant of a famous noble family receiving first class education in mathematics, anatomy and natural sciences. He was only 21 years old, when he accompanied the ambassador of Turkey of the Republic of Venice arriving to Constantinople where he spent eleven months. Marsigli studied there the location of the capital, the military power of the Ottoman Empire and collected data; so, there, he was a kind of "intelligence", actually spy. When in 1680, Ottomans made another attack against Hungary, he offered his service to king and emperor Leopold I (emperor of the German-Roman Empire and king of Hungary). In the spring of 1683, he participated in the defense of Southern Hungary against Ottoman general Kara Mustafa at the strategically important river Rába. He was wounded and captured by the enemy and survived the Turkish siege of Vienna as a prisoner. In 1684, he was released from captivity, and continued his military service for the liberation of South Hungary. His historical merit was to save the Corvinas (handwritten codexes) of king Mathias from the smoldering ruins of the royal castle of Buda. His military career broke at the war of the Spanish succession. From this time, his attention turned to sciences and left his enormous scientific heritage for the future generations. Most of his works remained in manuscript. In his life, he published 7 books. One of this book is a 7 volumes huge encyclopedic work on the historical Hungary, titled "Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus, observationibus" in the 6th volume of this work, he discusses the insects of Hungary. He mentions and illustrates 5 species and names them simply "Fucus" and "Vespa". Sándor Mocsáry was succeed to identify 3 species, namely Bombus lapidarius, Bombus terrestis (Fucus 1 and 2) and Polistes gallicus (Vespa). Lőrinc Pálffl (20th June 1720 Mindszent - 24th August 1775 Kolozsvár). In his work, titled "Erdélyi méhecske" (Transylvanian honey bee), Pálffi detailed the lifehistory and harms of Vespidae (withouth mentioning species) in apicultural point of view. He calls our attention for the importance of wasp-control in spring time. According to Pálffi: kill wasps in their drinking places where they gathers in springtime, because each wasp killed in springtime is equivalent with a killed waspiary in summer time. He also men
