A brief history of entomology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History for the period 1915-1923 is presented in chronicle form. The time circumscription has its background in a recent 100th anniversary of the current museum building, for which there was work on an anniversary book, which has not appeared, and this is based on a contribution originally intended for that book. It concerns primarily the Entomology department (which ended as a unit in 2013 when it was part of a fusion into a Zoology department) but also includes the Entomological Society of Stockholm to the extent it has been based at the museum, as well as insect-related work in other museum departments. The chronicle gives plenty of examples of research and researchers, other staff and routines, collection growth and management, collecting expeditions and publications, work environment issues and everyday life at the department.
In 1758 the renowned Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus sent his student Anton Rolandson Martin to the Arctic on-board a whaler to collect scientific specimens. He became the first Swedish scientist to sail these northern waters and to set foot on Spitsbergen. But what route did the ship take and where exactly did he land? By using a combination of geographical information in Martin’s diary together with latitude and wind directions from his meteorological records the ship’s voyage has been reconstructed. The whaler set course directly to the west coast of Spitsbergen and then patrolled waters from there to the eastern flank of the ice fields off Greenland. The ship then returned to Spitsbergen as the whaling season drew to an end. Martin got the chance to set foot on land only once and for just two hours. After recent field work at the presumed locality 258 years after Martin’s visit, his descriptions of the islets were checked and a first-hand comparison was made between the rock sample Martin brought home and the local bedrock. The author is now confident that the landing took place on Forlandsøyane islands, situated off the southwestern coast of Prins Karls Forland.