Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
178 Phylum Vertebrata staff were LÁSZLÓ SOLYMOSY 37 and ANTAL SMUK, 38 who researched into Fertő (SOLYMOSY 1928a, 1928b, 1930, 1939b, 1939c, 1940, 1942, 1954, 1966 and 1975; SMUK 1955, 1957a and 1957b). PÁL TASCH examined high ground, confirming that the woodchat shrike (Lanius senator) nests in the district (TASCH 1934a and 1934b). A study by OTTO KOENIG (1939) describes the bird-life of Fertő and the Hanság in glowing colours. 39 In 1940, RUDOLF ZIMMERMANN (1943) was commissioned to write up three years of research into Fertő bird-life. RUDOLF LUGITSCH (1949) made further additions to our knowledge of bird fauna at Fertő, while TITUS (TITUSZ) CSÖRGEY (1954) augmented the Fertő work of ZIMMERMANN based on his own diary notes. The Austrian side of Fertő after the Second World War was described again by OTTO KOENIG (1947). Ornithology in Sopron had to reemerge from the ruins after the Second World War. Fertő and much of the Sopron Hills became a border zone where movement was heavily restricted. The Prince Pál Esterházy bird observatory at the mouth of the Hanság Canal burnt down. GYÖRGY BREUER had difficulties earning a living and fell ill, so that he could hardly do any ornithological research, and in 1952, he moved to Nagykanizsa. His ornithological observations, apart from his published findings, were written in shorthand in fat diaries, which found their way to the Forestry Protection Faculty at the University of Western Hungary. 40 Ornithology resumed in the mid1950s at the Forestry Protection Faculty of the then Forestry Engineering College (today University of Western Hungary), with support from Professor LAJOS HARACSI. Forestry engineering students JENŐ 37 LÁSZLÓ SOLYMOSY, born in Zalaegerszeg on April 27, 1909, showed an interest in nature from an early age. He was already bird watching under TITUS CSÖRGEY in the Nagyberek at Fonyód at the age of eight. He and his schoolmaster made observations together for many years in the Lengyeltóti district and later round Egervár, Nagylózs, Újkér, Fertő and Balaton. He wrote his first ornithological studies as competition entries for the Hungarian Society in Sopron. His doctoral thesis summed up comparative histological analyses of the spleens of 65 bird species (A madárlép szövettani szerkezete [The Histological Structure of the Avian Spleen], 60 pp. Budapest, 1933.) This was followed by several contributions to international conferences and journals on the same subject ('Histologie der Vogelmilz' In 8th Ornithological Congress, Oxford, 1934; 'Beiträge zur Histologie der Milz der Spechte' In 12e Congrès International de Zoologie, Lisbon, 1935; 'Von der Nebenmilz der Vögel' In 9e Congrès International de Ornithologie, Rouen, 1938). His whole collection and all his notes were destroyed in the Second World War. The former included 800 bird specimens, an osteological collection, an egg collection, and an insect collection covering a great many specimens and species. His entire collection of writings and ornithological notes were lost, along with a 600-page manuscript professorial dissertation and 25 years of notes on bird-ringing. The biggest loss of all was a collection of about 20,000 microscope sections. He published little in the latter part of his life and died in Sopron on February 26, 1975. For further detail, see CSABA, J. 1975. Solymosy László, 1909-1975. Soproni Szemle 29:367-8. 38 ANTAL SMUK was born at Bősárkány on February 3, 1904. Apart from his ornithological work, he also made considerable contributions to archaeology and the study of mammals, as well as observing several molluscs in Fertő for the first time. He died at Nagylózs on July 12, 1978. For further detail, see CSABA, J. 1979. Smuk Antal (1904-1978). Soproni Szemle 33:185-6. 39 The book was reviewed in Állattani Közlemények by LAJOS VARGA (1941a). 40 SÁNDOR MOGYORÓSI has been edited the extant diaries, which will be published.
