He established a biological research station where many founding figures of Soviet zoology were trained.
His father Mikhail Ivanovich was a military engineer who had seen action at Sevastopol during the Crimean War (1853-1856).
A. Kuznetsov, N. P. Lavrov, E. P. Spangenberg, S. P. Naumov, A. N. Formozov, D. N. Danilov, P. B. Yurgenson, N. K. Vereshchagin, S. S. Folitarek, I. Yu.
Zhitkova, S. F. Chirkova, V. G. Stakhrovsky, N. P. Naumov, A. P. Razorenova, S. V. Lobachev, D. M. Vyazhlinsky, L. I. Girshfeld, V. G. Geptner, S. I. Ognev, G. L. Grave, and Ya.
He was also involved in the introduction of animals (then termed acclimatization) for fur including the muskrat and nutria (1928-1932).