Boris Petrovitch Uvarov, 1889-1970

Abstract

Boris Uvarov was born at Uralsk in south-eastern Russia on 5 November 1889.* His father was Petr Uvarov, a State Bank employee, and his mother Alexandra, who bore three sons of whom Boris was the youngest. Both parents were great lovers of the open-air. As they were living in a small provincial town at the border of Europe and Asia, almost all the week-ends in summer were spent in camping, shooting and fishing in a countryside which, at that time, was hardly touched by civilization. Primary education of the young Boris was received at home; he attended the secondary school at Uralsk from 1895-1902. An interest in natural history developed very early; formal teaching of the subject was pretty dull, but his enthusiasm received a tremendous stimulus when his father made him a present of the Russian translation of Brehm’s Tierleben in six volumes. Insect collecting soon became a hobby, and assumed a more serious character when he met S. M. Zkuravlev, a teacher in the Agricultural School near Uralsk, who had a profound influence on his growing interest in entomology.