Stephen Gottheil Rich, American entomologist, qualified as Bachelor
of Science (BSc) at the University of New York and Master of Arts (MA) at Cornell University, and in June 1915 submitted a doctoral
dissertation at Cornell University, entitled Comparative anatomy of the gill-chamber of
nymphs of Anisoptera [dragonflies].
In 1916 S.G. Rich, presumably him, was associated with Adams College, at Adams
Mission, just south of Durban, established by the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The college, a high school for Zulu pupils,
was later named the Amanzimtoti Zulu Training School. He remained there until
about 1919 and in that time published a paper on 'Binet-Simon [intelligence]
tests on Zulus' in the South African
Journal of Science (1917). The paper was also issued as a pamphlet.
According to Janse (1919), Rich commenced a study of the
insect order Neuroptera (Lacewings) and was expected to produce a monograph on
the subject. During his stay in Natal he published several further papers in the South African Journal of Science. One of
these dealt with the so-called Blue weed: 'Variation in Ageratum conyzoides
(family Compositae)' (1916). The rest dealt with insect anatomy and
taxonomy: 'The respiratory organs of dragon-fly larvae' (1916); 'The
respiratory rectum of the nymph of Mesagomphus (Order Odonata)' (1917); 'The
respiratory organs of a Notonectid' [backswimmer] (1917); 'Some features of the
South African Odonata [dragonflies and damselflies] as a fauna' (1918); 'Are
the Odonata of economic value?' (1918); 'Are the Orthoptera and Neuroptera
actual orders or conglomerations?' (1918); and 'Physiology of respiration in
some aquatic insects' (1919). He (S.G. Rich of Durban) also described the
species Pseudomacromia natalensis (Odonata) in The Canadian Entomologist (1921).
Rich became a member of the South African Association for
the Advancement of Science in 1916. That same year he became a founder member
of the South African Biological Society, but was no longer listed as a member
in 1920. He contributed an article on "The collection of aquatic insect larvae" to the society's journal, the South African Journal of Natural History (1920).
Rich should not be confused with what appear to be two other
persons with exactly the same names. One was Stephen Gottheil Rich (1890-1958),
an American philatelist who wrote The stamps
of the Union of South Africa (1920) and Philately
of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) (1943). The other was Stephen Gottheil
Rich, an American educationist who studied at the School of Education, New York
University, and wrote extensively on the sociology of education and the
teaching of chemistry and geography. There was also a Stephen G. Rich, who
resided in South Africa from 1915 to 1920 and wrote an article on 'Contemporary
South Africa' in the Journal of Geography
(1926) and who may well be the same person as our entomologist.
