Suchergebnisse

The article presents the action of the reintroduction of forest fauna conducted in the interwar period in Poland. The activities that led to the rescue of bison were discussed. The success of saving the last beaver populations in this part of Europe was recalled and analyzed. The activities, pioneering in Europe, carried out by the State Forests, for the protection of moose, were also presented. The article draws attention to the modernity of the ecological policy in Poland during the period of 1918–1939, as well as to the importance of the policy implemented by the State Forests in this period. Despite the Soviet-German occupation of Poland, some of the activities of interwar Poland managed to survive and to this day constitute an important part of the ecological policy of the EU.

Abstract
A drastic decrease in the European pond turtle population occurred at the end of 18th century and during the first half of 19th century. The exploitation of this species, as a source of food and drug substances, is nowadays almost forgotten. The present paper aimed at, firstly, underlining some historical sources concerning the exploitation of the European pond turtle. Secondly, its goal is to answer the following question: to what extent did the exploitation of the species contribute to the decline of the population? The author concludes with the importance and necessity of historical and economic analysis in order to understand the phenomenon of the decline of the European pond turtle population. This research, which must be continued by historians, will help the naturalists in action to protect and reintroduce the species into its former geographical range.

The Concept of Work Organisation in a Scientific Institution – Surveys and Studies from the Occupation Period (1941–1942) at the State Zoological Museum in Warsaw

During the Second World War, the State Zoological Museum in Warsaw (PMZ) suffered severe losses. Many workers were killed, and parts of the zoological and book collections were stolen by the Germans as early as 1939. The Museum became an important centre of the resistance movement, as it became a storage for weapons, explosives, and chemicals used for sabotage. Despite the repressions, the Museum employees tried to continue their work under the occupation and developed a modern model for the functioning of this institution to be implemented after the war. In the archives of the Museum and Institute of Zoology, a folder was found containing the documentation of the surveys conducted in 1941–1942 on the organisation of work and the future structure of the PMZ. This article presents the first analysis of these documents, which turned out to be a valuable source of information on the functioning of scientific institutions during the occupation, as well as on the history of the PMZ itself.

Henri Marmottan (1832–1914), Friend and Correspondent of Władysław Taczanowski (1819–1890) and Antoni Waga (1799–1890). A Contribution to the History of the Warsaw Zoological Cabinet

The article presents Henri Marmottan and his cooperation with the Warsaw Zoological Cabinet. Marmottan, a correspondent of Antoni Waga and Władysław Taczanowski, sent bird specimens to Warsaw. From Poland, he received both birds and insects for his collections. The text also includes an analysis of Marmottan's correspondence with Konstanty Branicki. In the collections of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, where the Marmottan collections are kept, the authors found specimens sent from Poland, and in the collections of the Museum and Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, specimens sent by him from Paris. Marmottan's scientific cooperation with Polish zoologists is presented in the context of the epoch, the Russian occupation of Warsaw, the Franco-Prussian war, and the Paris Commune.

Letters from Władysław Taczanowski to Alexander Strauch in the Russian Academy of Sciences Collections. An Interesting Contribution to the History of Zoology in the Nineteenth Century

The article presents the Polish translation and analysis of the letters from Władysław Taczanowski (1819–1890) to Aleksander Strauch (1832–1893). The correspondence is stored in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and comprises 29 letters written between 1870 and 1889. The main theme of these letters is specimens of reptiles and amphibians sent to Warsaw by Polish naturalists, such as Benedykt Dybowski from Siberia, Konstanty Jelski from French Guiana and Peru, Jan Kalinowski from Korea, as well as specimens brought by Taczanowski from Algeria. Strauch determined the species and used them in his publications. This correspondence is also a valuable testimony of the exchange of specimens between the Warsaw Zoological Cabinet and the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. In return for herpetological specimens, the Warsaw collection received numerous fish specimens from the Russian Empire and a collection of birds from Mikołaj Przewalski's expedition to Central Asia. The content of the letters allows a better understanding of the functioning of natural history museography but also the organization of shipments, preparation, determination, and exchange of specimens. They are a valuable document of the history of nineteenth-century scientific museography.

The article presents the contributions of Benedykt Dybowski to the natural history of Steller's sea cow – a marine mammal species, that had become extinct in the 18th c. Dybowski's impact is highlighted in his iconic discoveries concerning the biology of this species. Namely, he revealed and described the sexual dimorphism of the Steller's sea cow and was the first to propose the climatic hypothesis concerning its extinction. Furthermore, Dybowski sent the largest number of skulls and bones representing this species to European museums in the 19th c. Today, these artifacts are deposited in seven museums in five countries (England, Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Monaco). Unfortunately, specimens sent to Polish scientific institutions were looted or destroyed during both world wars. Sources examined in the present paper picture Dybowski as a prominent zoologist who worked within an international network of other outstanding specialists of that time – especially Władysław Taczanowski of the Warsaw Zoological Cabinet. The documents analyzed here shed new light on the work of naturalists and museum workers, revealing behind-the-scenes complexities of purchasing scarce and valuable zoological specimens.