George Washington Tryon
George Washington Tryon
Born(1838-05-20)May 20, 1838
DiedFebruary 5, 1888(1888-02-05) (aged 49)
Scientific career
Fieldsmalacology
InstitutionsAcademy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
Notable studentsHenry Augustus Pilsbry

George Washington Tryon Jr. (20 May 1838 – 5 February 1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

Biography

George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savidt. In 1853 he attended the Friends Central School in Philadelphia.

In 1859, Tryon became a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He was largely responsible for the construction of new buildings for the Academy, especially, in 1866, a section for malacology. In 1869 he became the conservator in this malacological section.

In 1865, together with a group of American malacologists, he founded (and financed) the American Journal of Conchology. This ended in 1872.

In 1879 he started the Manual of Conchology; structural and systematic; with illustrations of the species, volume 1, series 1. When he died, nine volumes of the first series had been published. From 1887 until 1888, his assistant was Henry Augustus Pilsbry. Thereafter, Pilsbry continued as editor of the ongoing multi-volume Manual of Conchology. The work was continued until 1935 when 45 volumes had been published.

Tryon named more than 5,600 new species, and can be considered one of the most prolific malacologists. His important collection (more than 10,000 specimens) made the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia the center of malacological studies in the 19th century.

The freshwater snail genus Tryonia is named in his honor.

Bibliography

Tryon published more than 1,000 articles and books.

Manual of Conchology

Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. The illustrations in this work were created by Dr. E. J. Nolan.[1]

Note: there are old synonyms in names of some volumes.

Manual of Conchology. Second series: Pulmonata

Manual of Conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Second series: Pulmonata. Altogether there are 28 volumes:

Volumes after 1888 has Tryon as an author, they were edited by Henry Augustus Pilsbry:

Other volumes are not attributed to George Washington Tryon:

References

  1. Tryon G. W. Manual of Concology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Volume 1. Cephalopoda. 1879. (in the introductory statement)
  2. Hyatt A. & Pilsbry H. A. 1911. Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Second series: Pulmonata. Preface. page IX. Volume 21.

Further reading

  • Dance S. P. A (1986). A History of Shell Collecting. 144–146, 176–177.
  • Ruschenberger W. S. W. (1888). "A biographical notice of George W. Tryon, Jr., conservator of the Conchological Section of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 28: 1–22. ISSN 0097-3157
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