Ferdinand Ochsenheimer

At the age of twelve he was apprenticed with a saddler but when his intellectual abilities were recognized friends of his father's enabled him to study natural history at the university.

After trying his hand in several fields – he was engaged as an opera tenor for a while – he finally committed himself to acting after successes as Gebhard in Portrait der Mutter and as Fallbring in Dienstpflicht.

On his way he stayed in Leipzig where he performed at the kürfürstliches Hoftheater (prince-elector's court theatre) as Fallbring and as Stepanoff with the result that he was immediately engaged.

Taking long walks in the country Ochsenheimer's interest in lepidopterology was rekindled "and without noticing it he had, in seeking recovery from one task, taken over another, not less laborious one."

In 1802 during a guest performance at the Königliches Hoftheater (royal court theatre) in Berlin he met Jakob Heinrich Laspeyres who encouraged him to publish parts of his entomological journals.

Due to problems with the editor he was forced to discontinue the work and began an even more detailed treatment under the title Die Schmetterlinge von Europa (The Lepidoptera of Europe).

In the same year he made a tour to Mannheim and Mainz and also to Frankfurt where he used all his spare time to work in the famous collection of Johann Christian Gerning.

In May 1807 he played twelve guest parts in Wien (Vienna) where Treitschke meanwhile held a position at the k.-k. Hoftheater (imperial-royal court theatre) and would have liked to permanently engage Ochsenheimer.

That year Treitsche was forced to cut down on his workload for reasons of health, began to take up lepidopterology again and became Ochsenheimer's companion on many excursions.

In 1817 Ochsenheimer was instructed to revise the Lepidoptera collections of the k.-k. Hofmuseum (imperial-royal court museum), a task which took him more than a year as he included all non-European taxa.

Among them are well-known names like Zerynthia, Charaxes, Endromis, Aglia, Gastropacha, Thyatira, Notodonta, Acronicta, Plusia, Heliothis, Amphipyra, Caradrina, Cosmia, Xanthia, Apamea, Gortyna, Nonagria, Euclidia, Anarta, Mamestra, Polia, Mythimna, Orthosia, Agrotis, Orgyia, Colocasia and others.