Thomas Lincoln Casey Jr.

Thomas Lincoln Casey Jr. (February 19, 1857 – February 3, 1925), the eldest son of Brigadier General Thomas L. Casey Sr., was an American U.S. Army engineer, who attained the rank of colonel; an entomologist, noteworthy for research on Coleoptera; and astronomer, who was an assistant to Simon Newcomb in Newcomb's 1882 expedition to observe the transit of Venus. Thomas L. Casey Jr. is known for his 9-volume Memoirs on the Coleoptera, published from 1910 to 1924.

Quotes

• The study of nature in any sphere is ennobling and broadening to the mind, whether it concerns elementary matter or the physical forces which control the universe, the infusoria or the mammals, the bacteria or those great trees which excite the admiration of the most apathetic of us; but, as human beings are primarily and essentially a social animal, it is evident that in a general sense the opinion of the people at large must have some weight in fashioning the tastes and predilections, even of those in whom the thirst for disinterested research is especially developed. We can account in this way for the exceedingly small proportion of scientific men who regard the study of morphological entomology as worthy of very serious consideration, although it can scarcely be disputed that in the Insecta occur the most wonderful structures to be found in the entire domain of nature, the most singular adaptations, and the most prolific sources of data to be ultimately utilized in attacking some of the apparently inscrutable problems of biological evolution.
  • (December 1894) "XV.—Coleopterological Notices. VI". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 8 (1): 435–838.

• Many of the Paederini have been found in the company of ants of various species and it is quite possible that most of them may be thus associated to a greater or less degree of intimacy at some stage of their existence, but in only a very cases does this association assume the form of true and life-long symbiosis, as the case of Megastilicus for example. A correspondent — Dr. W. M. Wheeler — recently sent me a specimen of Hesperobium flavicorne, with the statement that it had been hatched from pupae found in the nests of Formica incerta Emery. Probably in such cases the Staphylinid is an intruder, for the subsequent life-history of the numerous species of Cryptobia and Lathrobia does not appear to be identified in any particular way with that of the ants and they have no specialized structures, as is virtually always the case with true ant-guests.
  • (April 4, 1905) "A revision of the American Paederini". Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 15: 17–248. (quote from p. 19)

External links

• Thomas Casey 1857-1925. Division of Entomology, Universtiy of Nebraska State Museum, Morrill Hall.
• Thomas Lincoln Casey (1857–1925). Casey Farm (Historic New England).