Frank Mace MacFarland was an American malacologist associated with Stanford University in California. Born in Centralia, Illinois, MacFarland attended DePauw University, Stanford University and the University of Wurzburg. On August 27, 1902, MacFarland married Olive Knowles Hornbrook. Mrs. MacFarland was a skilled technician and artist whose delicate watercolor paintings illustrated many of his scientific publications. Frank MacFarland was an authority on the life and habits of nudibranchs and he left unfinished a comprehensive monograph on the group which was published posthumously in 1966. He played a leading role in organizing the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory in Pacific Grove, California, of which he was in charge from 1910 to 1913 and co-director from 1915 to 1917, and in which he maintained an active interest throughout the remainder of his life. MacFarland served as President of the California Academy of Sciences from 1934 to 1946; his research collection of opisthobranch mollusks formed the basis of the Academy's invertebrate collection. In 2006, the MacFarland home on the Stanford campus was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Taxa named in his honor
Gastropods named in honor of Frank Mace MacFarland include one genus and four species:
Macfarlandaea Ev. Marcus & Gosliner, 1984 accepted as Pleurobranchaea Leue, 1813
Doridopsis macfarlandi Ostergaard, 1955 accepted as Dendrodoris nigra
Felimida macfarlandi
Platydoris macfarlandi Hanna, 1951
Runcina macfarlandi Gosliner, 1991
Taxa named by MacFarland
Acanthodoris brunnea MacFarland, 1905
Acanthodoris hudsoni MacFarland, 1905
Acanthodoris lutea MacFarland, 1925
Aegires albopunctatus MacFarland, 1905
Ancula pacifica MacFarland, 1964 accepted as Ancula gibbosa
Anteaeolidiella oliviae
Berthella agassizii
Berthella strongi
Cadlina flavomaculata MacFarland, 1905
Cadlina marginata MacFarland, 1905 accepted as Cadlina luteomarginata McFarland, 1966
Cadlina modesta MacFarland, 1966
Corambe pacifica MacFarland & O'Donoghue, 1929
Corambella bolini MacFarland, 1966 accepted as Corambe steinbergae
Petelodoris spongicola MacFarland, 1966 accepted as Atagema alba
Phidiana nigra MacFarland, 1966 accepted as Phidiana hiltoni
Pleurobranchaea californica MacFarland, 1966
Polycera atra MacFarland, 1905
Rostanga pulchra MacFarland, 1905
Spurilla braziliana MacFarland, 1909
Tridachiella MacFarland, 1924 accepted as Elysia Risso, 1818
Triopha grandis MacFarland, 1905 accepted as Triopha occidentalis
Triopha maculata MacFarland, 1905
Publications
MacFarland, F. M. 1897. "Celluläre Studien an Mollusken-eiern. I. Zur Befruchtung des Eies von Pleurophyllidia californica Bergh. II. Die Centrosomen bei der Richtungskörperbildung im Ei von Diaulula sandiegensis Bergh." Zoologische Jahrbücher, Abtheilung für Morphologie 10: 227-264, pls. 18-22.
MacFarland, F. M. 1905. Proceedings of the Biological Society, Washington18: 35-54.
MacFarland, F. M. 1912. "The nudibranch family Dironidae." Zoologische Jahrbücher Supplement 15: 515-536, pls. 30-32.
MacFarland, F. M. 1918. Reports on the scientific results of the expedition to the tropical Pacific by the United States Fish commission steamer Albatross, from August, 1899, to June, 1900. XIX. Published by permission of H.M. Smith, U.S. commissioner of fish and fisheries.
MacFarland, F. M. 1923. "The morphology of the nudibranch genus Hancockia." Journal of Morphology38: 65-104, pls. 1-6.
MacFarland, F. M. 1925. The Nautilus39: 49-65.
MacFarland, F. M. 1926. The Nautilus39: 94-103, pls. 2-3.
MacFarland, F. M. 1929. "Drepaniaa genus of nudibranchiate mollusks new to California." Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences18: 485-496, pl. 35.
MacFarland, F. M. 1931. "Drepanida, new name for Drepania Lafont, preoccupied." The Nautilus45: 31-32.
MacFarland, F. M. 1966. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences6: 1-546, pls. 1-72.