In memoriam Pieter Kaas (1915-1996)

The malacologist Pieter Kaas (born on 14 November 1915) died on 8 June 1996. Kaas is best known for his numerous publications on worldwide Polyplacophora, covering the period 1952 to date, particularly the monograph jointly authored by Kaas & Van Belle, of which five volumes were published to date. He also wrote an authorative volume on the Dutch marine molluscs (1942, co-author A.N.Ch. ten Broek). Most of the beautiful and scientifically correct drawings were done by himself. Kaas earned a living as a successful author of children’s books and later as biology teacher in a secondary school. The obituary below describes his life and work and concludes with a malacological bibliography and a list of the 100 new taxa and 4 new names proposed by Kaas (42 together with R.A. Van Belle and 2 with H.L. Strack).