author
David Lawrence Belding
1884–1970
A marine biologist and parasitologist, he helped shape early conservation work in Massachusetts and later wrote widely used medical parasitology textbooks. His career bridged field studies of fisheries and classroom teaching in tropical medicine.
1 Audiobook
A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of Massachusetts
by Massachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game, David Lawrence Belding
About the author
Born in 1884, David Lawrence Belding studied at Williams College, where he developed an early interest in biology and natural history. Soon after graduating in 1905, he began work with Massachusetts fisheries agencies, building a reputation as a careful field biologist.
During his years with the Massachusetts Commissioners on Fisheries and Game and later the Division of Fisheries and Game, he led important surveys of shellfish and fish populations. His reports on mollusk, scallop, and quahog fisheries focused on depletion, management, and sustainable use, making him an important voice in early marine conservation in New England.
Belding later became known in medicine as well as biology through books such as Textbook of Clinical Parasitology, Basic Clinical Parasitology, and Textbook of Parasitology. Those works helped train generations of students and physicians, showing the unusual range of a scientist whose work stretched from coastal waters to human disease. He died in 1970.