Moshiurrahmanatik at 04:54, 23 January 2026

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{{Short description|Moravian palaeontologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}


{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Ferdinand Stoliczka
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'''Ferdinand Stoliczka''' ([[Czech language|Czech]] written '''Stolička''', 7 June 1838 – 19 June 1874) was a [[Moravia]]n [[palaeontologist]] who worked in [[India]] on [[paleontology]], [[geology]] and various aspects of [[zoology]], including [[ornithology]], [[malacology]], and [[herpetology]]. He died of high altitude sickness in [[Murgo]] during an expedition across the Himalayas.<ref name="Kapadia2005">{{cite book|last=Kapadia|title=Into the Untravelled Himalaya: Travels, Treks, and Climbs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5l1RhMStxgC&pg=PA212|year=2005|publisher=Indus Publishing|isbn=978-81-7387-181-8|page=212|quote=There was a memorial to Ferdinand Stolickzka ... He died at Murgo on 19 July 1874, and a tower has been erected here in his memory.}}</ref>

==Early life==
Stoliczka was born at the lodge ''Zámeček'' near [[Kroměříž]] in [[Moravia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.libri.cz/databaze/orient/list.php?od=s&start=1 |title=''KDO BYL KDO - čeští a slovenští orientalisté, afrikanisté a iberoamerikanisté'' |publisher=Libri.cz |date=18 December 1962 |access-date=19 November 2013}} (in Czech).</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hedvabnastezka.cz/cestovatele/ferdinand-stolicka |title=''Stolička Ferdinand : První Čech v Himálaji - Cestovatelské legendy a současní cestovatelé - cestování, poznávání, dobrodružství '' |publisher=Hedvabnastezka.cz |access-date=19 November 2013 |archive-date=8 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008142134/http://www.hedvabnastezka.cz/cestovatele/ferdinand-stolicka |url-status=dead }} (in Czech).</ref> Stoliczka, whose father was a forester who took care of the estate of the Archbishop of Olomouc, studied at a German Secondary school in Kroměříž. Although Stoliczka published 79 articles from 1859 to 1875, he never wrote anything in Czech. It is believed that he spoke German at home. In his [[Calcutta]] years he was an important figure in the German-speaking community there.<ref name=ba>{{cite journal|author=Hruby, Jiri|year=2005|title=Ferdinand Stoliczka|journal=Birding Asia|volume=3|pages=50–56}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Hrubý J|year=2006|title=''Moravský ornitolog Ferdinand Stolička''|journal=Sylvia|volume=42|pages=130–135|url=http://oldcso.birdlife.cz/www.cso.cz/wpimages/other/sylvia42-14Hruby.pdf }} (in Czech).</ref>

Stoliczka studied [[geology]] and palaeontology at [[Prague]] and the [[University of Vienna]] under Professor [[Eduard Suess]] and Dr [[Rudolf Hoernes]]. He graduated with a Ph D from the University of Tübingen on 14 November 1861.<ref name="jade">[http://www.gemsandstamps.it/cms/dmdocuments/Schlagintweit.pdf] {{dead link|date=November 2013}}</ref> His early works were studies on some freshwater [[mollusca]] from the Cretaceous rocks of the north-eastern [[Alps]] about which he wrote to the Vienna Academy in 1859. His scientific career proper started in the Austrian Geological Survey, which he joined in 1861, and his first papers there were based on work in the Alps and Hungary.<ref name=ba/>

==Career in India==
[[File:GeologicalSurveyIndia1870.jpg|thumb|left|The Geological Survey of India in 1870. Standing: F Stoliczka, R B Foote, W Theobald, FR Mallet, V Ball, W. Waagen, WL Willson
Sitting: A Tween, W King, T Oldham, HB Medlicott, CA Hackett]]
In 1862 Stoliczka joined the [[Geological Survey of India]] (GSI) under the British Government in India after being recruited by Dr [[Thomas Oldham]] (1816–1878). In [[Calcutta]] he was assigned the job of documenting the [[Cretaceous]] [[fossil]]s of southern India and published them in the ''Palaeontologia indica'', along with [[William Thomas Blanford]]. By May 1873 this work was completed with four volumes totalling nearly 1500 quarto size pages with 178 plates.<ref name=wtb/> Among these works was the osteological description of ''Oxyglossus pusillus'',<ref>{{cite journal|author=Stoliczka F|year=1869|title=Osteological notes on ''Oxyglossus pusillus'' (''Rana pusilla'' Owen), from the tertiary frog-beds in the Island of Bombay|journal=Mem. Geol. Survey of India|volume=6|pages=387–394}}</ref> a fossil frog from the [[Deccan Traps]] of Bombay.<ref name=ba/>
[[File:Mudh Towering Range Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7095.jpg|thumb|Stoliczka discovered the [[Mud village, Spiti#Geology|Mudh formation]] when he visited [[Mud village, Spiti]] in the 1860s]]
He studied the geology of the western [[Himalayas]] and [[Tibet]], and published numerous papers on many subjects including Indian [[zoology]]. He was also briefly (in 1868) the joint curator of the Indian Museum and also the Natural History Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He was involved in editing the Society's journal.<ref name=ba/>

==Expeditions==
He visited Burma, Malaya and Singapore, and made two trips to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the [[Rann of Kutch]]. His first Himalayan trip was in 1864 with F. R. Mallet of the GSI. In 1865 he visited again with an artist friend and a dog to the Ladakh Valley. He visited [[Kutch]] in 1871–1872 but noted that his geology work kept him from making many observations. He noted wild [[cheetah]]s from the region and also what is now Stoliczka's bushchat. In 1873 he joined an expedition organized by Hume along with [[Valentine Ball]] to the Andaman and Nicobar islands.<ref name=ba/>

==Last expedition==
[[File:PaleontologiaIndica1.jpg|thumb|left|''Paleontologia Indica'' (1871)]]
His third and last expedition was the most important expedition (1873–1874) during the height of the "[[Great Game]]", the rivalry between the Russian and British empires. Eastern Turkestan ([[Kashgar]]ia) was a buffer state of prime importance. The British launched an official diplomatic enterprise—the [[Second Yarkand Mission]] led by [[Thomas Douglas Forsyth]] and to [[Yakub Beg of Yettishar|Yakub Beg]], the ruler of Chinese Turkestan.<ref name=ba/> The mission included 350 support staff and 550 animals.<ref name=ba/> The expedition also needed 6476 porters and 1621 horses and it is said that the Ladakh economy took four years to recover from the losses incurred.<ref name=ba/> The seven sahibs on the mission, in addition to Forsyth and Stoliczka, were [[Thomas Edward Gordon|Thomas E. Gordon]], [[John Biddulph]], [[Henry Walter Bellew|Henry Bellew]], [[Henry Trotter (Indian Army officer)|Henry Trotter]], and R. A. Champman.<ref name=trotter>[[Henry Trotter (Indian Army officer)|Trotter, Henry]] (1917). "The Amir Yakoub Khan and Eastern Turkestan in Mid-Nineteenth Century". ''[[Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society]]'' '''4''' (4): 95-112.</ref>

The mission set out from [[Rawalpindi]] to Leh ''via'' Murree. The mission travelled past the [[Pangong Tso|Pangong Lake]], Changchenmo and Karakash Valley onto [[Shahidulla]] and finally to [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]]. They reached Kashgar in December 1873. On 17 March 1874 they began the return journey. They were to visit the Pamir and Afghanistan areas but could not do so due to the political situation and returned to India via Ladakh. On 16 June 1874 he had severe headaches as they crossed the Karakoram pass (5580 m). That night, he wrote....
:''...upon this followed massive dolomitic limestone and this was overlain with blue shales. I must have a ramble in these limestones tomorrow.''
[[Image:YarkandMission.jpg|thumb|Report by [[Frederic Moore]] on the Lepidoptera collected on the mission]]
Captain Trotter reported that on the 18th "he started on horseback early in the morning to examine some rocks up the stream." He returned tired and complained of a headache. He breathed heavily and coughed all night. The native doctor diagnosed acute bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs and treated him with brandy mixed in a cough mixture. At 2 PM he drank some port wine and "his respiration grew slower and slower, and also did his pulse, and he finally breathed his last, dying so quietly that it was impossible to say at what precise instant he passed away".

Stoliczka died on 19 June 1874 at [[Murgo]] in [[Ladakh]]. His dying request was that the birds part of the scientific results of the expedition be published by [[Allan Octavian Hume]]. This work was finally, however, completed by [[Richard Bowdler-Sharpe]] seventeen years later.<ref name=ba/>
[[File:Yarkand1873.jpg|thumb|left|Dr Stoliczka (left) and Captain Biddulph (right) in Kashgar]]
[[Image:Stoliczka memorial.jpg|Memorial at the Moravian cemetery at Leh|thumb]]
[[Image:Stoliczka leh epigraph.jpg|Inscription on the memorial at [[Leh]]|thumb]]
Dr. [[H. W. Bellew]] did the post-mortem and confirmed "spinal meningitis deteriorated by over-exertion in strenuous endeavours after information, and the great height." Today this is generally believed to have been Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), a condition well known to Himalayan travellers. It manifests as pulmonary or cerebral oedema. Above {{cvt|5,000|m|ft|abbr=on}} this is fatal in about 40% of the cases. Conditions that aggravate it include exertion, fast ascent and alcohol, all of which were present in his case.<ref name=ba/>
[[File:Ferdinand_Stoliczka_Bust_at_Indian_Museum.jpg|thumb|alt=Bust at the [[Indian Museum]], dedicated by [[Geological Survey of India]]|Bust at the [[Indian Museum]], dedicated by [[Geological Survey of India]]]]

In his report on the expedition, Thomas E. Gordon touched on the death of his "highly valued friend and talented companion."<ref name=gordon>[[Thomas Edward Gordon|Gordon, Thomas Edward]] (1876) .''[https://archive.org/details/roworldanarrati00gordgoog The roof of the world: being a narrative of a journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian frontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir.]'' Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. p. 171.</ref>

A granite obelisk is erected in his memory at the Moravian mission cemetery in [[Leh]]. An obituary was published in ''Nature'' on 9 July 1874 by [[William Thomas Blanford|W. T. Blanford]].<ref name=wtb>{{cite web|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=div&did=HISTSCITECH.0012.0257.0005&isize=M |title=Problem while searching in History of Science |publisher=Digicoll.library.wisc.edu |access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref>

{{cquote|{{center|FERDINAND STOLICZKA, Ph D.
Born in Moravia 7th June 1838 
Died at Moorgo 19th June 1874 
while returning from Yarkund with the British 
Mission to which he was attached as Naturalist. 
Though young when he fell a sacrifice to duty, 
he had already achieved eminence by his 
researches into the geology and 
natural history of India 
AND HIS EARLY DEATH 
is deeply regretted by the world of science 
and by the Government of India, who 
in recognition of his able and 
honourable services, have 
caused this monu- 
ment to be 
erected 
1876}}}}

==Ornithological contributions==
[[File:Side view of S. B.jpg|thumb|Stolickza's Bushchat at [[Kutch]], where it winters]]
Stoliczka's interest in birds started only in 1864 when in the Himalayas and he was greatly encouraged by [[Allan Octavian Hume]], the "father of Indian Ornithology". His first ornithological work was making large collections of birds from the Sutlej Valley.<ref name=ba/>

[[Arthur Hay, 9th Marquess of Tweeddale|Arthur Viscount Walden]] recognized his contributions and welcomed the geologist Stoliczka ''to a high place among scientific ornithologists'' but disagreed with Stoliczka's idea of adding new species due to small differences in plumage. Hume however supported Stoliczka and wrote a note in the journal, Ibis, against the ''cabinet naturalists'' of London who knew nothing about the geography of India. Hume shortly afterwards started the journal ''Stray Feathers'' and persuaded ornithologists in India to publish there.

Some of Stoliczka's new species were later found to have been already described by the Russian zoologist [[Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov|N. A. Severtzov]]. A week before his death, Stoliczka wrote to [[Valentine Ball]]...
: 'Please tell Waterhouse to order for the Asiatic, Severtzov's ''Turkestanskie Jevotnie'' immediately, if it is not at the Indian Museum. If they do not like ordering it, order it for myself through Truebner without delay. Do not forget, please.'

A partial list of his publications on birds includes:
* Stoliczka, F. (1873): Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 1(5):425-427.
* Stoliczka, F. (1874): Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 2(4&5):461-463.
* Stoliczka, F. (1874): Letters to the Editor. Stray Feathers. 2(4&5):463-465.
* Stoliczka, F. (1875): The avifauna of Kashgar in winter. Stray Feathers. 3(1,2&3):215-220.
* Stoliczka, F. (1872): Notice of the mammals and birds inhabiting Kachh [Cutch]. Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 41(2):211-258.
* Stoliczka, F. (1868): Ornithological observations in the Sutlej valley, N.W. Himalayas. Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 37(2):1-70.

==Herpetological contributions==
In the scientific field of [[herpetology]] Stoliczka described many new [[species]] of [[amphibians]] and [[reptiles]], and several [[species]] and a [[genus]] have been named in his honor by other [[herpetologist]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo|last2=Watkins|first2=Michael|last3=Grayson|first3=Michael|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians|location=Exeter, England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJY3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA207|date=2013|publisher=Pelagic Publishing|isbn=978-1-907807-42-8|page=207}}</ref><ref name="EDR"/>

===Taxon described by him===
*See [[:Category:Taxa named by Ferdinand Stoliczka]]

==Eponymous species and subspecies==
Some of the species and subspecies named after Stoliczka are listed below. Not all names may be currently valid.
[[Image:Parnassius stoliczkanus nicevilli ulster.jpg|thumb|''[[Parnassius stoliczkanus]]'']]
[[Image:Triplophysa stoliczkai Day cleaned.png|thumb|''[[Triplophysa stoliczkai]]'']]
[[File:Laudakia stoliczkana, Eej Khairkhan Natural Monument, Tsogt sum, Govi-Altai province, North Gobi Desrt, Mongolia 4.JPG|thumb|''[[Paralaudakia stoliczkana]]'']]

=== Taxa named in his honor ===
*The ammonite genus ''[[Stoliczkaia]]''

'''Arachnids'''
*Stoliczka's crab spider, ''[[Thomisus stoliczka]]''
*The nursery web spider genus ''[[Stoliczka]]''

'''Birds'''
*Stoliczka's treecreeper, ''[[Certhia nipalensis]]''
*[[Stoliczka's bushchat]], ''[[Saxicola macrorhyncha]]'' Stoliczka, 1872

'''Fish'''
*Stoliczka's loach, ''[[Triplophysa stoliczkai]]'' ([[Franz Steindachner|Steindachner]], 1866)
*Stoliczka's barb, ''[[Pethia stoliczkana]]''

'''Insects'''
*[[Parnassius stoliczkanus|Ladakh banded apollo]], ''[[Parnassius stoliczkanus]]'' C. & R. Felder 1864
*[[Colias stoliczkana|Orange clouded yellow]], ''[[Colias stoliczkana]]'' [[Frederic Moore|Moore]], 1882

'''Mammals'''
*Stoliczka's trident bat, ''[[Aselliscus stoliczkanus]]''
*Stoliczka's mountain vole, ''[[Alticola stoliczkanus]]''

'''Reptiles'''
*Mongolia rock agama, ''[[Paralaudakia stoliczkana]]''<ref name=EDR/> ([[William Thomas Blanford|Blanford]], 1875)
*The snake genus ''[[Stoliczkia]]''<ref name=EDR>{{cite book|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo|last2=Watkins|first2=Michael|last3=Grayson|first3=Michael|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ovZoFyLhzkC&pg=PT255|date=2011|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-1-4214-0135-5|pages=xiii + 296}} ("Stoliczka", p. 255).</ref>
*Stoliczka's tawny cat snake, ''[[Boiga ochracea|Boiga ochracea stoliczkae]]''<ref name=EDR/>
*Stoliczka's stripe-necked snake, ''[[Liopeltis stoliczkae]]''<ref name=EDR/>
*Frontier bow-fingered gecko, ''[[Altiphylax stoliczkai]]''<ref name=EDR/>
*''[[Paraxenodermus borneensis]]''''' ('''[[George Albert Boulenger|Boulenger]]''', '''1899) with the common names''': '''Borneo red snake''', '''Stolickza's stream snake''';''' is a species of snake in the family [[Xenodermatidae]].

==See also==
* [[Payer Island|Stoliczka Island (Остров Столичка)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Other sources==
* {{cite book|author=Kolmas, Josef |year=1982|title= Ferdinand Stoliczka (1838–1874) the life and work of the Czech explorer in India and high Asia.|publisher= Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universitat |place=Vienna|url=https://www.istb.univie.ac.at/uploads/wstb/WSTB_9.pdf}}
* {{cite book |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/209809#page/1/mode/1up |title=Scientific results of the second Yarkand mission : based upon the collections and notes of the late Ferdinand Stoliczka |via=[[Biodiversity Heritage Library]] |year=1891 |publisher=[[Eyre & Spottiswoode]] |location=London |access-date=16 October 2019}}

== External links ==
* [https://archive.org/details/scientificresult00blan] [https://archive.org/details/scientificresult01indirich Scientific results of the second Yarkand Mission; (1891)] [https://archive.org/details/Aves00Shar Birds]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716123241/http://friendsofjade.squarespace.com/storage/members/v2/pdfs/SchlagintweitFOJParts4-5.pdf Herbert Giess, Early Modern European Explorers at the Mountain Jade Quarries in the Kun Lun Mountains in Xinjiang, China]
* [http://www.ubio.org/NZ/search.php?search=Stoliczka&colname=on&colauthority=on&colcomments=on&colcategory=on&colpublication=on&vol=&page= Genera proposed by Stoliczka]
* [https://archive.org/details/cretaceousfaunao03geol (1871) Paleontologia Indica. Cretaceous fauna of southern India. Volume 3]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoliczka, Ferdinand}}
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1874 deaths]]
[[Category:Ornithologists]]
[[Category:Paleontologists]]
[[Category:Biologists from the Austrian Empire]]
[[Category:Charles University alumni]]
[[Category:Expatriates in British India]]
[[Category:Lepidopterists]]
[[Category:Moravian-German people]]
[[Category:Explorers of South Asia]]
[[Category:Explorers of the Himalayas]]
[[Category:People from Kroměříž]]
[[Category:People associated with Lahaul and Spiti district]]
[[Category:Himalayan studies]]

Ferdinand Stoliczka - Revision history

Moshiurrahmanatik at 04:54, 23 January 2026