Augustus A. Gould

Augustus A. Gould (born April 23, 1805, New Ipswich, New Hampshire, United States—died September 15, 1866, Boston, Massachusetts) was a naturalist and physician, pioneer of American conchology (the study of shells), and one of the first authorities on the invertebrate animals of New England.

Early life and education

Gould was born to Nathaniel Duren Gould—a music teacher, engraver, and, later, a member of the state legislature of Massachusetts—and his wife Sally Andrews Prichard. Augustus Gould helped manage the family’s small farm in New Ipswich during his early years, and in 1821 he enrolled in Harvard College (now an undergraduate institution under Harvard University). His interest in natural history that he cultivated while at college stayed with him through his life.

He received his medical degree in 1830 and became one of Massachusetts’s leading physicians. Even as an established medical professional, Gould continued to study nature, becoming an early member of the Boston Society of Natural History and teaching zoology and botany at Harvard for two years. His initial interest was in insects, and in 1834 he published a monograph on the tiger beetles (family Cicindelidae) of Massachusetts.

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Contributions to science

Although Gould published many works on diverse invertebrate phyla, including crustaceans and insects, his major contribution was to the study of American mollusks and shells. His most important publication, the Report on the Invertebrata of Massachusetts (1841), in which he described about 275 molluscan species, greatly encouraged the study of mollusks in the United States. He also studied the mollusks and shells collected by the first scientific expedition sponsored by the United States government—the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–42). Molluscan species identified and described by Gould include Nassarius pauperus, Physa sinuata, and Mytilus (Modiola) areolatus. He was coauthor of Principles of Zoology (1848) with the naturalist Louis Agassiz.