His father was a successful merchant, and both parents had Puritan roots dating back to the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1620s.

He then entered the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard to study under Louis Agassiz, the most influential scientist in America at the time.

[5] Scudder became a leading figure in American entomology, and was especially noted for his work with grasshoppers (Orthoptera), butterflies (Lepidoptera), and insect paleontology.

This publication cemented his reputation as a leading lepidopterist of his day, and remained a standard and influential work for many years.

[4][9] In addition to numerous scientific papers, Scudder also wrote several popular accounts of butterflies for the general public.

[2] After the Civil War, the extensive explorations of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) led to the discovery of many fossil insects.

He also published Nomenclator Zoologicus (1882–1884), a seminal and comprehensive list of all generic names in zoology, including insects.

[4] In his other contributions, Scudder was co-founder of the Cambridge Entomological Club and its journal Psyche (1874); general secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1875), and vice president (1894); cofounder, editor, and guide of the Appalachian Mountain Club (1878);[10] first editor of Science magazine;[6] (1883–1885) and USGS paleontologist (1886–1892).

He gave his personal insect collections to the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and his library to the Boston Society of Natural History.