Florence Wells Slater

Mary Florence Wells Slater (October 16, 1864 – January 22, 1941) was an American entomologist and educator. After graduating from St. Mary's School in 1882, she served on the faculty there as a science teacher. Slater went on to study entomology at Cornell University, working as a research assistant for John Henry Comstock. In 1899 she published the article The Egg-Carrying Habitat of Zaitha, which made corrections to an error in Comstock's earlier published work. She went on to teach within the New York City Department of Education, most notably at Washington Irving High School in Gramercy Park. Slater was an advocate for teacher pensions in New York and for equal pay for equal work in the United States.

Biography Mary Florence Wells Slater was born in Salisbury, North Carolina on October 16, 1864. Her father was James Alexander Slater. While an undergraduate student, she studied and worked under John Henry Comstock. While working with Comstock in 1899, she reported in an article titled The Egg-Carrying Habit of Zaitha that male Zaitha flumineum carry eggs and that the females are "obliged to capture the male in order to deposit the eggs", corrected an error made by Comstock that had been published in American textbooks. She also wrote that "the male chafes under the burden" of carrying the eggs and "if attacked, he meekly receives the blows, seemingly preferring death.. to the indignity of carrying and caring for the eggs." Slater graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1900.

Upon graduating, Slater moved to New York City, teaching science in city public schools, most notably Washington Irving High School.