User:Sarkasten/Maude Delap

Collecting and research
''In 1894, Maude Delap started a correspondence with Dr Robert Francis Scharff, curator of the Dublin Natural History Museum, and from 1894 to 1949 regularly sending observations, field notes, letters, preserved specimens and drawings to the museum. Maude Delap sent specimens and samples to the Natural History Museum in London. Maude, and her sister Constance, were prolific collectors of marine specimens many of which are now housed within the collections of the Natural History Museum, Dublin.''

Valentia Harbour Survey
Based on their work a survey was undertaken by the Royal Irish Academy headed by Edward T. Browne of University College London in 1895 and 1896, a precursor to the Clare Island Survey. Following this collaboration Maude and Constance continued to collect specimens through dredging and tow-netting as well as recording sea temperature and changes in marine life. Maude kept in correspondence with Browne, sending specimens and drawings, until his death in 1937.

"The flow of visitors for scientific and scholarly research purposes to the island over the years (engineers, scientists, marine biologists) finally culminated with a decision made by Browne to locate an extensive marine survey on Valentia in the mid-1890s. The decision to locate the study on the island was in part informed by the interest in natural science of Reverend Delap (who was already well known through his previous activities in the Belfast Field Club) and the availability of existing infrastructure. With the arrival of the survey team in 1895, through their father’s interest in natural history and the hosting of survey visitors at Reenellen, Maude and Constance would become centrally involved with Browne’s study and would continue to log information and collect specimens for him years after the initial ‘official’ fieldwork had been completed. In Irish, if not in European terms in this period, the only other comparable island to receive such multidisciplinary attention would be Lambay Island, Co. Dublin, with the survey of its flora and fauna in 1905–6.23"

Breeding Jellyfish
Delap became increasingly interested in the life cycle of various species of jellyfish, being the first person to successfully breed them in captivity in her home laboratory using homemade aquariums. She bred Chrysaora isosceles and Cyanea lamarckii in bell jars and published the results, observing their breeding and feeding habits. It was due to this pioneering work that the first identification of the various life cycle stages (medusa and hydra) belong to which species. Her laboratory was referred to as the department which her nephew, Peter Delap, described as an "heroic jumble of books, specimens, aquaria, with its pervasive low-tide smell."

Due to her contributions to marine biology Delap was offered a position in 1906 in the Plymouth Marine Biological Station. She declined the position, and remained on Valentia Island for the rest of her life. Her great-nephew John Barlee reported that she declined due to her father's reaction, which reputedly was "No daughter of mine will leave home, except as a married woman."

Cetacean Monitor
Delap's served as a cetacean monitor, recording whale strandings in south-west Ireland for a study conducted by Dr. Francis Charles Fraser of the British Museum. Most notably, this work included the identification of a True's beaked whale which washed up on the island. This was a whale species that was previously only known from an incomplete specimen from the United States. Expand the stuff about burying it and then that the head is still available to view at Dublin museum.

Later life and recognition
After her father's death in 1906, Delap along with her unmarried sisters, Mary and Connie, and their mother remained in Knightstown and lived a largely self-sufficient lifestyle. They grew their own fruits and vegetables and sold flowers for additional income. Delap also ran the local cottage hospital for many years.

In 1928, Delap had a sea anemone named in her honour, Edwardsia delapiae, which she first recorded in eelgrass on Valentia Island's shores. This anemone is found in shallow sea water and it is unknown outside Valentia Island. The naming had been suggested by Thomas Alan Stephenson in his book British sea anemones. Stephenson notes in his book that "Miss Delap's skill and persistence in collecting rare species are indefatigable." This was considered to be the highest accolade for a natural scientist, and one rarely bestowed upon a woman. In 1936, Delap was made an associate member of the Linnean Society of London.

She died in July 1953, having been predeceased by all of her siblings, and was buried alongside her sisters near Knightstown, County Kerry. Her obituary was published in the Irish Naturalist's Journal, noting that "every worker on Irish natural history is indebted to her for her help most generously given."

A plaque was erected to her in 1998 on Valentia Island by the Irish National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology. Delap was also the subject of films and art work by Dorothy Cross, exploring her life and interaction with contemporary scientists and artists.

Publications
"There are over forty references to her contribution to the Valentia Survey, and there are eighty-one noted entries of donations of specimens to the National Museum of Ireland’s natural history database under the name of ‘Delap’.20 Between 1901 and 1924, she published over fifteen articles in journals and magazines such as the Irish Naturalist, Kerry Archaeological Magazine, and Fisheries Ireland and (p.166) contributed notes and information to scholars in the areas of botany, zoology, marine science, folklore, and anthropology throughout her lifetime."

''"She took an eager interest in the flora, fauna, and local history of the whole area, contributing to Reginald Scully's The flora of County Kerry (1916) and publishing some papers in the Kerry Archaeological Magazine." ''


 * Browne, Edward Thomas and Delap, Maude Jane (1890) Notebooks, Drawings and Papers on Hydrozoa and Other Coelenterates from Valencia, Port Erin, Plymouth and Elsewhere
 * Delap, Maude Jane (1899) Diary Recording Observations on Coelenterata and Other Marine Animals Around Valencia, Ireland