EVANS, Howard Ensign 1919-2002

PERSONAL: Born February 23, 1919, in East Hartford, CT; died of pneumonia, July 18, 2002, in Ft. Collins, CO; son of Archie J. and Adella (Ensign) Evans; married Mary Alice Dietrich, June 6, 1954; children: Barbara, Dorothy, Timothy. Education: University of Connecticut, B.A., 1940; Cornell University, M.S., 1941, Ph.D., 1949. Hobbies and other interests: Photography, backpacking, fishing.

CAREER: Kansas State University (now Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science), Manhattan, assistant professor, 1949-52; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, assistant professor of entomology, 1954-59; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, associate curator, Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1959-64, curator, 1964-70, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, 1970-73; Colorado State University, Fort Collins, professor of entomology, 1973-85, professor emeritus, beginning 1986, affiliated with C. P. Gillette Museum. Military service: U.S. Army, 1942-45; became second lieutenant.

MEMBER: Animal Behavior Society, National Academy of Sciences.

AWARDS, HONORS: National Book Award nomination, 1964, for Wasp Farm; Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal, National Academy of Science, 1976.

WRITINGS:

The Song I Sing: Verses, Humphries, 1951.

(With Cheng Shan Lin) Studies on the Larvae of Digger Wasps (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae), [Philadelphia, PA], 1956.

Studies on the Comparative Ethology of Digger Wasps of the Genus Bembix, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1957.

Wasp Farm, Natural History Press (Garden City, NY), 1963.

A Synopsis of the American Bethylidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata), Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), 1964.

The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1966.

Life on a Little-Known Planet, Dutton (New York, NY), 1968.

(With Mary Jane West Eberhard) The Wasps, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1970.

(With wife, Mary Alice Evans) William Morton Wheeler, Biologist, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1970.

(With Robert W. Matthews) Systematics and Nesting Behavior of Australian Bembix Sand Wasps (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae), American Entomological Institute (Ann Arbor, MI), 1973.

The Bethylidae of America North of Mexico, American Entomological Institute (Ann Arbor, MI), 1978.

(Editor, with Michael D. Breed and Charles D. Michener) The Biology of Social Insects: Proceedings of the Ninth Congress of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 1982.

(With Mary Alice Evans) Australia: A Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Press (Washington, DC), 1983.

Insect Biology, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1984.

The Pleasures of Entomology, Smithsonian Institution Press (Washington, DC), 1985.

(With Kevin M. O'Neill) The Natural History and Behavior of North American Bee Wolves, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1988.

(With Mary Alice Evans) Cache la Poudre: The Natural History of a Rocky Mountain River, University Press of Colorado, 1991.

Pioneer Naturalists: The Discovery and Naming of North American Plants and Animals, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1993.

The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

A Naturalist's Years in the Rocky Mountains, Johnson Books (Boulder, CO), 2001.

Author of numerous research papers. Contributor to scientific journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Noted entomologist Howard Ensign Evans's Life on a Little-Known Planet describes the life histories and mating habits of several common insects. New York Times Book Review writer Robert W. Stock commented: "Evans, a skilled writer in the unlikely guise of a Harvard University entomologist, has the wit and charm to make us care about the lifestyles of locusts and bedbugs." "The 'little-known planet' of the title is earth," Stock continued, "and Evans is pleading for a greater understanding of earth life—even unto the smallest bug. Seldom, if ever, has the case for the natural sciences—and for conservation—been presented with such reasoned, convincing eloquence."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Audubon, March, 1994, p. 123.

Bloomsbury Review, July-August, 2001, Jim Craig, review of A Naturalist's Years in the Rocky Mountains, p. 22.

Booklist, October 15, 1993, p. 401.

Choice, January, 1998, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 840.

Isis, June, 1998, Maxine Benson, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 348.

Library Journal, September 15, 1993, p. 100; May 1, 1997, Patricia Ann Owens, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 135.

Natural History, October, 1979; December, 1981; July, 1997, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 12.

Nature, March 7, 1985.

New York Times Book Review, November 17, 1968, Robert W. Stock, review of Life on a Little-Known Planet.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 1997, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 164.

Science, August 15, 1997, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 907.

SciTech Book News, June, 1998, review of The Natural History of the Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820), p. 45.

Times Literary Supplement, April 8, 1965; May 28, 1970.*