Background on Charles F Clagg
Three Manobo girls, July 1931
The entomologist Charles F. Clagg was born in Barnstable, Mass., on October 31, 1904 and received his bachelor of science degree from the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1927. Although never able to complete his graduate degree, Clagg enjoyed a long and productive career in entomology. Listed as a graduate student at MAC in 1929-1930, Clagg took part in an extensive collecting trip to the Philippines in 1930 and 1931. Beginning in June 1930 near Calian in Davao del Sur (Mindanao), Clagg spent several months collecting flies in and around the active Mount Apo volcano, in the Lawa and Calian river valleys, and in the Lalun mountains, traveling to the eastern peninsula of Davao early in 1931. His efforts contributed to the description of several new species of dipterids, lepidostomatids, phorids, and hemipterids.
Until the early 1970s, Clagg worked as an entomologist for the U.S. Navy, assigned for much of the time to the District Public Works Office for the 14th Naval District at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Active professionally, he was an officer and honorary member of the Hawaiian Entomological Society. He died in Barnstable in 1989.
