KARL WILHELM THEODOR BELING 
No sketch of the life of Theodor Beling, the great German student of the 
immature stages of the Tipuloidea, has ever appeared in English. It was 
with considerable difficulty that the writer was able to get into communication 
with relatives and friends of Beling and obtain the data presented herewith.* 
Theodor Beling was born at Steterburg, in the Duchy of Brunswick, 
Germany, on March 26, 1816. He was a son of the district forester. From 
1828 to 1834 he attended school at Wolfenbiittel. At Easter, 1834, he began 
his chosen career as a forester, having served his prescribed apprenticeship 
of two years with his father at Danndorf. He attended the Royal Saxon 
Academy at Tharand from 1836 to 1837, and in the following year visited the 
University of Géttingen to round out his technical training in various branches 
relating to forestry. Beling’s career as a forester extends from Easter, 1834, 
to October 1, 1888, when he was officially retired with a pension. In April, 
1861, he was made Master of the Forest, a position which he held until his 
retirement. 
After his retirement from active public service, Beling long continued his 
vigorous researches afield and at home. When far advanced in years, he 
went alone on long trips to seek new stations for plants and to observe animal 
life in wood and field. He died on December 17, 1898, at Seesen, where 
much of his finest work was accomplished. 
During his lifetime Beling published one hundred and seven articles. The 
series of three papers which rank him as a pioneer in the field of crane-fly 
biology were published in the years 1873, 1879, and 1886, respectively. In 
these papers the histories of sixty-nine species of crane-flies are discussed in 
detail, and brief notes on five additional species are included. The other 
published articles of Beling cover a remarkable range of subjects relating 
directly or indirectly to the science of forestry. His most important researches 
on the life histories of insects, in addition to those on the Tipuloidea, are on 
the coleopterous families Parnidae and Elateridae. His published articles 
are dated between 1850 and 1888, but practically all of his entomological 
studies were published in the seventies and eighties. 
Beling’s excellent collection of dried plants, mounted birds, and sections 
of various woods, and his cabinet of insects — the last-named including the 
types of several species described by himself and by others — are preserved 
in the collection of the Natural History Museum at Brunswick. It is under- 
stood that the insects in this collection, including the alcoholic larvae and 
pupae of the Tipuloidea, are still in excellent condition. 
* Sincere thanks are here extended to the following persons, who have added materially 
to the value of this biographical notice: 
Landesforstmeister K. Block, son-in-law of Beling, who published in April, 1899 (in 
Allgemeinen Forst- und Jagd- Zeitung), a complete obituary notice relating to his father- 
in-law, and to whom the writer is indebted for several additional unpublished notes and 
ror the loan of the excellent portrait of Peling reproduced herewith. 
Meerwartz, Director of the Natura! History Museum at Brunswick, who has fur- 
nea data concerning the present condition of the collection of the immature stages of 
the Tipuloidea described by Beling, now preserved in the above-mentioned institution. 
William Prindle Alexander and Elsa Miller Alexander, who have rendered valuable 
service in translating the account of Beling’s life. 
