Pius Titius Vendel was born on 23 October 1801 in Jasov (Jászö) near Košice (Kassa) in the modern-day Slovak Republic. At the age of 22, he joined the order of Minorite brothers in Arad (Romania) and took his vows in 1826. Two years later he was ordained a priest. Apart from his priestly duties, Father Titius worked as Latin, Natural Sciences and Botany teacher. Between 1846 and 1851 he worked as a military chaplain in Split and embarked on collecting samples of marine organisms. In 1859, he received a letter from the Ministry of Culture and Education of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy authorizing him to “examine the coast of the Adriatic Sea within the borders of the Monarchy with the task of collecting botanical and zoological material as well as the aim of researching botany and zoology”. In the same year, he moved to Piran, where he stayed until October 1870, when ordered to leave Istria once more, most likely by a decree issued by his superiors, and to return to Hungary. He was back in Piran as late as 1881, where he died on 20 December at the age of 83.
The Ministry of Culture and Education arbitrated that part of the Titius collection belonged to the Zoological and Botanical Society in Vienna and was envisaged for educational institutions. His collections were sent to 191 institutions. Among the educational institutions acquiring Titius’s material was the Novo Mesto Secondary School, which received two didactic collections in 1859 and 1869. In 1952, the Secondary School donated the collection to the Slovenian Museum of Natural History.
The Slovenian Museum of Natural History of Slovenia holds two Titius collections of pressed and dried algal specimens. The collections are of great scientific and historical value.
The older algal collection gathered at various localities between 1853 and 1858, is composed of 84 17 by 10 cm herbarium sheets. Above the upper edge of the slip, the Latin name of the species with the author’s name is handwritten, while below the lower edge, on the left side, the locality of collection, and in the right corner the inscription “Leg. Titius” as well as the year (which most likely refers to the year of collection) are written.
This collection (83 algae and 1 colonial marine invertebrate) contains a total of 84 specimens. The majority of algae were collected in 1856 in Dalmatia, specifically: 55 algal specimens in Split (32 red, 15 brown and 8 red algae), 2 algae in Zadar (red), 2 on Hvar Island (red), 1 on Vis Island (red) ) and 1 seaweed in Herzeg Novi (red). 8 specimens of red algae were collected in Venice, all in 1854, and 2 red algae in 1856 in Trieste. Titus supplemented this collection by 12 specimens of freshwater algae collected at different localities between 1853 and 1858, specifically: 5 in the town of Levoča (Leutschau in German language) in 1857 and 1858; 1 in the city of Buda in Hungary (Ofen in German) in 1856, 2 in the town of Zipser in 1857 and 1858, 1 in Schmelnitz in 1857, 2 in Padua in 1854 and 1 in the town of Abano in 1853.
Photos: Ciril Mlinar Cic
The later collection of algae gathered at various locations in the 1861-1869 period consists of twelve 29 by 21 cm herbarium sheets. Each sheet is divided into 9 parts by a thin black line, with on specimen of dried alga pasted on the sheet in the middle of each part. Above the upper edge of each small sheet, the Latin name of the specimen together with the author’s name is given in handwriting. Below the lower edge, on the left side, the locality is stated, and on the right side the year when collected.
This collection consists of a total of 106 specimens (algae are missing on two herbarium sheets), specifically: 103 algae (70 red, 21 brown, 12 green) and 3 “zoophytes” (Table 1). Specimens of “zoophytes” and 99 algae were collected in Piran, mainly in 1868, 1 specimen of red algae in Venice in 1868, and 1 specimen of brown algae at Miramar near Trieste in 1868. Two specimens of red algae originate from Australia but with no details on their locality and the year when collected.
