Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

Phylum Arthropoda 103 Sopron, June 1711: 'Various pests (beetles, bugs, locusts) appeared' (GENSILI and SYDENHAM). Sopron, 1742: 'A blessed year, but there was beetle damage to the vines; many people took out their vines' (MICHEL). Sopron, 1743: 'Again there was great beetle damage to the vines' (MICHEL). Kőszeg, May 1780: 'In general, there promised to be a good harvest, if... some kind of bug never heard of here had not gnawed through the wheat at the base or the stalk and done great damage. The insects have the form of a linseed and seem to chew up the wheat stalk, and if they are not disturbed, stay immobile' (Magyar Hírmondó, June 28). Sopron, 1780: A multitude of bugs and cockchafers consume the trees and the crops' (Magyar Hírmondó, June 10, 1780). Sopron, May 1781: 'Bug damage has appeared again at the base of the wheat' (Magyar Hírmondó, June 6, 1781). There are many other references to 'beetle damage' in the accounts of the time, but in most cases, they were not caused by beetles (bogár), but by other insects (rovar). Nor was a distinction drawn between beetles and féreg (bug, grub, worm) until the mid19th-century language reform, when conscious distinctions were drawn between the various groups of pests. These problems of nomenclature were clarified early thanks to PÁL BUGÁT, whose Scientific Glossary appeared in 1843.

23 A further journal entry worth quoting tells of a 'rain of bugs and beetles' in 1713: 'On April 27, a hailstorm with a whirlwind swept the outskirts. Miraculously, bugs and beetles were noted along with the hailstones. These had probably been caught up by the whirlwind somewhere and then thrust down here. Those who are curious may rack their brains about where they originated, for in our climate, they still hardly exist in such quantities at this time of year' (GENSILI and SYDENHAM II. 243). The first scientific work on fauna to appear in the region was the one by JÓZSEF CONRAD (1782) about the beetles in the vicinity of Sopron. This study was among the earliest works of coleopterology to be published in Hungary (Figure 12.2). It seems for that reason to be worth reproducing here the list of beetle species that he gave, with his original numbering (Figure 12.3). CONRAD kept abreast of the times. Twenty-five years after the tenth edition of Systema Naturae by CARL LINNÉ (CAROLUS LINNAEUS) appeared,

24 he was applying the Linnaean binomial system, or rather adopting the Linnaean names. He also inserted names and synonyms appearing in works of entomology by GIOVANNI ANTONIO SCOPOLI

25 and JOHANN CHRISTIAN FABRI23 BUGÁT, P. 1843. Természettudományi szóhalmaz (Scientific Glossary), 488 pp. Buda: Magyar Királyi Egyetem. Lists of earlier times can seem curious in the light of modern systematic knowledge, but the assignation of names was a step towards resolving the confusion. See BOGNÁR, S. 1994. A magyar növényvédelem története a legrégibb időktől napjainkig (1030-1980) (History of Hungarian Plant Protection from earliest Times to the Present Day, 1030-1980), 783 pp. Mosonmagyaróvár. 24 LINNAEUS, C. 1758-9. Systema Naturae per Régna tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis l-ll. 10th revised edition. Holmiae [Stockholm]: L. Salvius. 25 SCOPOLI, I.A. 1763. Entomologia Camiolica exhibens Insecta Camioliae indigena et distributa in ordines, genera, species, varietates. Methodo Linnaeana. Vindobonae [Vienna]: J.T. Trattner.