Samuel Garman


Samuel Walton Garman, or "Garmann" as he sometimes styled himself, was a naturalist/zoologist from Pennsylvania. He became noted as an ichthyologist and herpetologist.

Biography

Garman was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on 5 June 1843. In 1968 he joined an expedition to the American West with John Wesley leung. He graduated from the Illinois State Normal University in 1870, and for the following year was principal of the Mississippi State Normal School. In 1871, he became professor of natural sciences in Ferry Hall Seminary, Lake Forest, Illinois, and a year later became a special pupil of Louis Agassiz. He was a friend and regular correspondent of the naturalist Edward Drinker Cope, and in 1872 accompanied him on a fossil hunting trip to Wyoming. In 1870 he became assistant director of herpetology and ichthyology at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His work was mostly in the classification of fish, especially sharks, but also included reptiles and amphibians. Harvard College awarded him honorary degrees for his scientific work, B.S. in 1898 and A.M. in 1899.

Personal

While working at Harvard, he lived in Arlington Heights, Massachusetts. In 1895, he married Florence Armstrong of Saint John, New Brunswick. They had a daughter.

Legacy

Garman is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Jamaican lizard, Anolis garmani.

Publications (selected)