Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:

Chrono-Biographical Sketches





Schmidt, Karl Patterson (United States 1890-1957)

herpetology

Although Karl Schmidt made few important new discoveries, he was widely known as one of the most solidly productive herpetologists of his time. Apart from his many systematic revisions (he named over two hundred species, and was a leading expert on coral snakes), he was an outstanding collector, both of specimens and literature, and enriched the Field Museum's holdings in both respects. Further, he was fluent in German, and took part in several translations of key works; he also wrote several guide and survey works that became very popular with the public. Schmidt's zoogeographical writings reveal that he was, on the whole, a solid supporter of a W. D. Matthew brand of dispersalism. Schmidt's death has frequently been written of: he was bitten in his lab by a juvenile African boomslang which he doubted could produce a fatal dose, so he administered no antivenin. Unfortunately, he was wrong; nevertheless, he made notes on the symptoms he experienced almost right up to the end.