A Book of Bryn Mawr Stories

Margaretta Morris

Margaretta Hare Morris was an American entomologist. Morris is known for her work with agricultural pests, specifically the Hessian fly, cicadas, and the Colorado potato beetle. Her observations on water beetles were also included in Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, despite not being credited due to Darwin’s misogynistic beliefs. She and the astronomer Maria Mitchell were the first women elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850. She was also the second woman elected to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1859, after Lucy Say.