A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Naturalia 1. (Szeged, 1999)

Gaskó Béla: Emlékezés Vellay Imrére (1850-1898) különös tekintettel a szegedi városi múzeumot érintő adatokra

Summary Ede Imre Vellay was born on the 1 It of October 1850 in Nagybecskerek.The self made (autodidact )scientist finished the first four classes of the secondary school in his native town, Nagybecskerek. This remained his highest ( in the civil sense ) qualification. Between 1874 and 1875 he attended and finished an army officer's course at the 1 Ludovika

1 military academy. For a short while he worked as an active army officer, then he worked in the notary's office of Szeged. With the help of József Vánky. who was a teacher of the secondary school, he described the whole insect fauna of .Szeged and its further surroundings from 1886 to 1893. He edited a book, 'Details to the animal world of Szeged's surroundings'. It was the result of 316 days of collecting species. This work on the fauna is considered as one of the best of its time. In 1889 and 1890 the Moroccan winged migratory locusts destroyed Szeged and its further surroundings as a natural hazzard.The situation was so serious that a ministerial commissioner was appointed in 1890, to survey the damages and to organise the control of the parasites. Vellay took great part in these works, so he was recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture. Thanks to his professional knowledge and legendary diligence, he was appointed to the post of assistant to help József Jablonowski in the Hungarian Royal Entomological station in 1895. In applied entomology he was mainly known for his research of the life of the Moroccan winged migratory locusts, but he also made essays on several agricultural parasites. He considered Szeged his second home. He took part in the discussions which helped to create the sections of the city museum. The director of the museum, János Reizner always could count on his professional advice and active help. He died on the 6 th of August 1898, in Budapest.