He influenced the very famous lepidopterist and writer Vladimir Nabokov: "At the age of eight he [Nabokov] began reading serious books on entomology from the family library and at nine he already attempted to make his first scientific discovery, writing about it to the leading Russian lepidopterist, Nikolay Kuznetsov.
Kuznetsov's reply disappointed the young naturalist: it turned out that the insect in question had already been described.
Then he was appointed demonstrator in animal physiology at the university and later became a lecturer, and a professor.
He also lectured on entomology and insect physiology at the Institute of Applied, Zoology, but, his main interest was centred at the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, where he was in charge of Lepidoptera for more than forty years, he was specialized in the family Pieridae[1] and also studied fossil insects in amber.
He described the following species of Lepidoptera: He also described the extinct genera Electresia, Glendotricha, Oegoconiites, Oligamatites, Prolyonetia, Symmocites and the extinct species Micropterix immensipalpa as Electrocrania immensipalpa.