Maude Delap
| Maude Delap | |
|---|---|
Portrait in 1950
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| Born | 7 December 1866 Templecrone, County Donegal, Ireland |
| Died | 23 July 1953 (aged 86) Valentia Island, County Kerry |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology, marine biology |
| Influences | Edward T. Browne, Alfred Cort Haddon, Robert Lloyd Praeger |
Maude Jane Delap (7 December 1866 – 23 July 1953) was a self-taught marine biologist, known for being the first person to breed jellyfish in captivity, and thus observed their full life cycle for the first time. She was also involved in extensive study of plankton from the coasts of Valentia Island.
Maude Delap was born in Templecrone Rectory, County Donegal, the seventh child of ten of Rev Alexander Delap and Anna Jane (née Goslett). In 1874, when Maude was aged 8, the family moved to Valentia Island when her father became the rector of the island and Cahirciveen. Maude and her sisters received very little formal education in contrast to their brothers, though they benefited from some progressive primary school teaching. Maude and her sister Constance were encouraged in their interest in zoology and biology from their father, who himself published notes in the Irish Naturalist and elsewhere.
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. 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.
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 home made 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."
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