Mary J. Rathbun

Mary Jane Rathbun (June 11, 1860 – April 4, 1943) was an American zoologist, specializing in carcinology. She was elected in 1906 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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Quotes

The Fish Commission explorations began 1891, in connection with the cable survey between California and the Hawaiian Islands, when ten hauls of the trawl and tangles were made, mostly between 300 and 375 fathoms. The results were meager compared with those realized by the three months' systematic exploration by a land party in 1901 under the leadership of Dr. D. S. Jordan and Dr. B. W. Evermann and the Albatross in 1902. ... This vessel occupied 397 stations in the vicinity of the islands, while field parties, led by Dr. Charles H. Gilbert, explored the shores and reefs as well as the fresh-water streams. Mr. Walter K. Fisher, of Stanford University, has given added value to the specimens by notes on their habits, color, etc.
Mr. Henry W. Henshaw, for many years a resident of Hilo, has from time to time sent Crustacea to the National Museum, and has added several species to this list. Other contributors are the late Valdemar Knudsen, a wealthy planter of the island of Kauai who was much interested in natural history, and Mr. R. C. McGregor, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
- (1906) . "The Brachyura and Macrura of the Hawaiian Islands". Bulletin for the United States Fish Commission for 1903 XXIII, Part III: 829–930. (quote from 829)

... Through the activities of its various vessels and laboratories the Bureau of Fisheries has been able to transfer to the National Museum vast accumulations from nearly all the coasts of America. The amount of work accomplished by the steamers Albatross and Fish Hawk and the schooner Grampus, as well as by other vessels of the commission in earlier years, is indicated in the detailed lists of specimens.
Other Government explorations that have yielded considerable results are those constantly carried on by the Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture and those occasional expeditions under the auspices of the National Museum itself and the Smithsonian Institution. Of the Crustacea obtained by the United States exploring expedition in 1838-1842 and by the North Pacific exploring expedition in 1853-1856 very little remains, owing to the inadequate housing of the former collection before the existence of a National Museum building, and to the destruction of the latter collection in the Chicago fire of 1871 while it was in the custody of Dr. William Stimpson.
- The grapsoid crabs of America. Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, Bulletin 97. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1917. pp. 1–2.

Her own special field of interest was the Crustacea, particularly the crabs, both recent and fossil. Her bibliography on the animals embraces 158 titles. Perhaps her most important and best-known works are her four large monographs on the grapsoid, spider, cancroid and oxystomatous crabs of America, published as bulletins of the U.S. National Museum between 1918 and 1937. In 1917 the George Washington University conferred upon her the degree of doctor of philosophy in recognition of her work on the grapsoid crabs.
- Lucile McCain, (1943) . "Obituary. Mary Jane Rathbun". Science 97 (2524): 435–436. DOI:10.1126/science.97.2524.435.