{{short description|American scientific collector}} '''Perry Oveitt Simons''' (October 6, 1869 – 1901) was an American scientific collector. He predominantly worked in the Neotropics.

==Early life and education== Simons was born on October 6, 1869, in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, the son of Luther B. Simons (1836–1917) and Laura Simona (née Hollingsworth, later Harreld, 1851–1931).<ref>{{cite news |title=End to a Pioneer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-parsons-sun-laura-hollingsworth-harr/191489037/ |work=The Parsons Sun |date=June 15, 1931 |location=Parsons, KS |page=1 |access-date=February 17, 2026 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mother of Joplin Woman Dies at Oswego |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/joplin-globe-laura-hollingsworth-harreld/191489143/ |work=Joplin Globe |date=June 14, 1931 |location=Joplin, MO |page=5 |access-date=February 17, 2026 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> In 1886 he left Wisconsin for Riverside, California, where he graduated from Riverside High School in 1893. He spent four years at Stanford University as an electrical engineering major.<ref name="Auk"/>

While at Stanford, he assisted William W. Price with a scientific collecting expedition near Lake Tahoe, California in the summer of 1896 <ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/4068881</ref>. He collected bird and mammal specimens that were deposited in a number of museums around the United States, including the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, and the California Academy of Sciences. <ref>https://www.vertnet.org/occurrence/search?q=PO+Simons&eventDate=1890-01-01%2C1896-09-01&country=US&stateProvince=California</ref>

==Career== Later, he accompanied William W. Price as a scientific collector in Mexico from 1896 to 1897. He was joined by his brother, Luther. The mammal specimens collected on this 10-month expedition were purchased by the British Museum. British Museum zoologist Oldfield Thomas was so pleased by the quality of the specimens, he offered Simons a job collecting additional specimens in South America. Luther accompanied Perry for the first two years of the expedition before sailing back to San Francisco.<ref name="Auk"/>

==Death== While crossing the Argentinean Andes around the end of December 1901,<ref name="Auk">{{cite journal|journal=The Auk| year=1903| volume=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vmxu_CzeCxMC&pg=PA96| pages=94–96|title=Notes and News}}</ref> Simons was murdered by his guide.<ref name="Beolens 2011">{{cite book|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo|last2=Watkins|first2=Michael|last3=Grayson|first3=Michael|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4214-0227-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0F758vNQ0UUC&pg=PT244|access-date=10 June 2019|page=244}}</ref> The guide struck him in the back of the head before driving a spike through his forehead. His body was found, and it was buried nearby. The motive was said to be robbery, and the guide was captured and imprisoned in Mendoza, Argentina.<ref name="Auk"/> After Simons's death, Oldfield Thomas called him "the most successful mammal collector that I have ever had to deal with", noting, "we shall not easily find his like again".<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00222930208678580|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2M9MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA237|title = XL.—On mammals collected at Cruz del Eje, Central Cordova, by Mr. P. O. Simons|journal = Annals and Magazine of Natural History|volume = 9|issue = 52|pages = 237–245|year = 1902|last1 = Thomas|first1 = Oldfield}}</ref>

==Namesake species== Several species were named after Simons:

'''Reptiles''':<ref name="Beolens 2011"/> *Simons's whorltail iguana (''Stenocercus simonsii)'' *Simons's green racer (''Philodryas simonsi)'' *Simons's sun tegu (''Euspondylus simonsii)''

'''Amphibians''':<ref name="Beolens 2013">{{cite book|author1=Bo Beolens|author2=Michael Watkins|author3=Michael Grayson|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJY3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA198|date=22 April 2013|publisher=Pelagic Publishing|isbn=978-1-907807-44-2|page=198}}</ref> *Paramo robber frog (''Pristimantis simonsii)'' *Sucre water frog (''Telmatobius simonsi)''

'''Birds''':<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=En4wBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1172|title=The Eponym Dictionary of Birds|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo|last2=Watkins|first2=Michael|last3=Grayson|first3=Michael|date=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781472905741|language=English|page=1172}}</ref> *Puna tapaculo (''Scytalopus simonsi)''

'''Mammals''': *Simons's spiny rat (''Proechimys simonsi)''<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00222930008678378|title=XXXVII.—Descriptions of new Rodents from Western South America|journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History|volume=6|issue=33|pages=294–302|year=1900|last1=Thomas|first1=Oldfield|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2188735}}</ref>

'''Fish''': *''Astroblepus simonsii'' <ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1904.tb00040.x|title=III. A Monograph of the Fishes of the Family Loricariidae|journal=The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London|volume=17|issue=3|page=317|year=1904|last1=Regan|first1=C. Tate|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13673180}}</ref>

Another species of reptile in the genus ''Liolaemus'' was named ''L. simonsi'' after him, though it was found to be a synonym of ''L. ornatus''.<ref name="Beolens 2011"/> The mountain degu was also named after him by Oldfield Thomas in 1902, as ''Neoctodon simonsi'',<ref name=Thomas1902>{{cite journal | journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London | title=On Two new Genera of Rodents from the Highlands of Bolivia | volume=1902 | pages=114-117 | first=O. |last=Thomas |author-link=Oldfield Thomas |publisher=Academic Press, [etc.] | date= 1902 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/118624 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> but the name was later found to be invalid.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |title=On small mammals collected in Jujuy by Señor E. Budin |pages=136-143 |date=1913 |volume=11 |location=London |publisher=Taylor and Francis|first=O. |last=Thomas |author-link=Oldfield Thomas |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18635704#page/155/mode/1up |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Perry}} Category:1869 births Category:1901 deaths Category:American collectors Category:People from Mineral Point, Wisconsin Category:American people murdered abroad Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Zoological collectors Category:People murdered in Argentina

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