2 new genera and 13 new species of fleas were found on 

 or near Mt. Tancitaro alone. 



Harry Hoogstraal was critically injured in an acci- 

 dent during the 1940 trip to Mexico, sustaining a broken 

 back and other serious injuries, followed by osteomyeli- 

 tis. His courage, determination, and intensive interest 

 in biology were demonstrated by his return to similar 

 arduous and hazardous activities in Mexico in 1941, de- 

 spite the severe bouts of intermittent pain he suffered for 

 the rest of his life. 



During World War II Hoogstraal's excellent back- 

 ground and training proved eminently useful in U.S. 

 Army investigations on the systematics and ecology of 

 mosquitoes in the U.S., New Guinea, and the Philip- 

 pines. Even under wartime conditions he managed to 

 collect vertebrates and arthropods of special interest. 

 While still assigned to the Philippines, Hoogstraal, with 

 the support of K.P. Schmidt, organized and directed the 

 Field Museum Philippines Zoological Expedition. He 

 then took his discharge from the Army in the Philip- 

 pines and assumed responsibility for negotiations with 

 the newly established Republic of the Philippines and for 

 logistics and selection of personnel. This expedition, in 

 the field in Luzon, Palawan, and Mindanao from April, 

 1946 to May, 1947, made such important collections of 

 mammals, amphibians, and reptiles that Field Museum 

 now has one of the two or three most important collec- 

 tions of these animals from the Philippines. Indirectly, 

 the expedition later led through one of the Filipino par- 

 ticipants, Dr. Dioscoro Rabor, to the acquisition of large 

 collections of Philippine birds. 



After this expedition, Hoogstraal participated in 

 the University of California/U.S. Navy Africa- 

 Madagascar Expedition, 1948-49. From his base with 

 namru-3 he planned and then led many important 

 collecting trips to various parts of Africa, Arabia, and 

 Asia Minor, Nepal, Australia, Madagascar, and many 

 other parts of the world. Unfortunately for those of us 

 interested in its fauna, he did not work in tropical Amer- 

 ica. All of these trips yielded important additions to the 

 collections of the Field Museum, for example, almost 

 2,000 mammals from Africa, about 2,500 birds from 

 Egypt, and over 700 reptiles from Madagascar. In all, we 

 have received over 5,000 birds, 10,000 mammals, 

 12,000 amphibians and reptiles, and well over 100,000 

 insects and related organisms from Hoogstraal. These 

 accessions have added significantly to the international 

 importance of Field Museum as a center of research. 



Harry Hoogstraal was not only a scientist of inter- 

 national stature, but he actually operated at a global 

 level, writing thousands of letters annually to so many 

 10 countries that his mailing list resembled a stamp collec- 



tor's guide. He served as an external examiner for gradu- 

 ate students attending at least eight universities in a total 

 of seven countries and as a visiting lecturer in five uni- 

 versities in Egypt, the U.S.A., and the United King- 

 dom. He was a research associate of the Field Museum, 

 the Bishop Museum (Honolulu) and the Smithsonian 

 Institution (National Museum of Natural History). 

 Hoogstraal rendered a tremendous service to science by 

 arranging for and editing the translations of more than 

 2,000 scientific papers and books from the U.S.S.R., 

 Eastern Europe, and China, and by distributing them 

 gratis to scientists everywhere. In this way specialists 

 had access to important papers that they otherwise may 

 never have seen or even known about. 



It is impossible to do justice to his innumerable and 

 invaluable contributions to medical entomology and 

 acarology (the study of mites and ticks), parasitology, 

 protozoology, virology, rickettsiology, bacteriology, 

 medical ecology, and epidemiology, but these encompass 

 far more than formal books and papers. He spent a great 

 deal of his time inspiring, stimulating, and guiding stu- 

 dents all over the world, and when their reports and 

 manuscripts were finished, Harry would critically exam- 

 ine or revise the papers, recommend specific measures 

 that might be required to obtain more suitable data and 

 then help with publication. Because of his erudition, 

 aptitude, attitudes, integrity, and his standing as an ex- 

 pert on vector-borne infections, he was a member of 

 several international commissions investigating prob- 

 lems in virology and other arthropod-borne infections. 

 These same attributes led to his being invited to present 

 lectures or participate in symposia all over Europe, 

 including the U. S. S. R. , and many countries in Asia and 

 Africa, as well as the U.S.A. 



However, Harry Hoogstraal's reputation was not 

 just as a model scientist, for he was well known as a con- 

 noisseur, with particular reference to ballet, works of art, 

 Egyptian antiquities and ornamental plants, especially 

 cacti. A recent activity, sculpting, brought much favor- 

 able comment. His generosity was proverbial and he was 

 a superb host, not only to his ever-present house guests, 

 but to friends and colleagues at meetings and during 

 travel, and also to all the children in the neighborhood. 

 He was uncle to virtually everyone, but was so well loved 

 and respected that the parents of 43 children selected 

 him as godfather. 



The measure of Harry Hoogstraal's accomplish- 

 ments will surely increase with the passage of time, and 

 at the Field Museum his memory is enshrined in the halls 

 and in the specimen drawers, as well as in reams of books 

 and papers in the library and in the minds, souls, and 

 hearts of his colleagues and friends. ¥H 



