Maria Elizabeth Fernald

Maria Elizabeth Smith Fernald (May 24, 1839 – October 6, 1919) was an American entomologist who wrote a major reference book, A Catalogue of the Coccidae of the World. She was also instrumental in identifying the caterpillar form of the economically destructive European spongy moth following its introduction into North America.

Education Maria Elizabeth Smith was born on May 24, 1839, to Ebenezer and Betsy (Torsey) Smith of Monmouth, Maine. She attended the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female College, graduating in the school's first class. She stayed at the school as an instructor for a time. or 1863, she married entomologist Charles H. Fernald, whom she had tutored in music. She became interested in entomology through her husband and began her education in the subject in the 1870s by collecting insects for him around Maine State College in Orono, where he was teaching at the time.