Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 100. (Budapest 2008)

Korsós, Z.: History of the Herpetological Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum

As it usually happens with great personalities, MÉHELY in his museum years ( 1896-1915) also attracted a series of young and talented students who wished to deal with herpetology. After BOLKAY, there came OLIVÉR GEDULY (1889-?) who spent some time studying the herpetofauna of Hungary. He was born in Budapest, and graduated at the university with a degree to teach natural science in high schools. In the beginning, in the years 1911-1912 he was an unpaid trainee in the Department of Zoology of the Hungarian National Museum. Learning from MÉHELY, he wrote up the herpetofauna of the surroundings of Budapest in LENDL'S popular periodical, "A Természet" (— The Nature) in 1914. The work was illustrated with his own photographs (GEDULY 1914, Fig. 21). This promising herpetologist career was nevertheless ended for unknown reasons: in 1918 GEDULY accepted a teacher's position in the main high school of Budapest, then between 1929-1946 he was teaching natural history in the Szent István High School in the 7th district. He did not lose his interest in reptiles though; travelling to Italy in 1928-1931 he collected several lizards and snakes which he donated to the Department of Zoology of the Museum. His important herpetological finding was the discovery of the Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca vivipara) in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain (GEDULY 1923). This species is well known in the surrounding countries from higher elevations; but in Hungary, its distribution is exceptionally confined to certain isolated lowland habitats (like the boglands of Ocsa and Bátorliget), which resemble with their cool microclimatic conditions to the last glacial periods. When MÉHELY left the museum and took over the university professor's chair in 1915, he had two talented herpetologist students. He chased away one of them (BOLKAY), but the other one (FEJÉRVÁRY), endured his professor's hard personality better, and also his financial circumstances were luckier concerning his future. He was only 22 when he became the leader of the Herpetological Collection in the museum. Baron GÉZA GYULA FEJÉRVÁRY (1894-1932) was born into an aristocratic family, his grandfather was the prime minister of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. He spent his childhood in Pécs and in Bex in Switzerland, where he went on excursions with BOLKAY in the valley of the Rhône in 1909. He was barely 15 years old, when his first, 50-page work was published in German about the herpetofauna of the Rhône valley. In 1912 he went to the University in Budapest, where he studied zoology and also medical sciences for a while. His favourite teacher was GÉZA ENTZ Sr., but he could only listen to the old teacher's presentations for two years. After ENTZ'S retirement his son, GÉZA ENTZ Jr. took over the lectures, but only for one year; when finally MÉHELY became professor of zoology at the university. Meanwhile, in 1913 FEJÉRVÁRY - as a first-grade university student - became volunteer keeper of the Herpetological Collection (led by MÉHELY at that time). When MÉHELY left the museum in 1915, FEJÉRVÁRY followed him to the university and worked as his assistant (BOROS & DELY 1968). During this period he became acquainted with ARANKA MÁRIA LÁNGH, whom he later married (Fig. 20), and who also followed him in the herpetologist's chair of the museum (DELY 1994). FEJÉRVÁRY officially took over the curatorship of the herpetological collection in 1916, from KÁLMÁN SZOMBATHY (1889-?) who managed the collection for only one year, after MÉHELY in 1915-16. In the very same year, he finished his studies at the Pázmány Péter University, and in 1917 he got his doctorate degree. In 1918, at the age of 24, he published