Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists

Michael Darby

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D

D., H.C.

These initials and the date 1908 appear on specimens in the British collection of Coleoptera at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter. (MD 5/02)

D., M.E.

These initials appear on specimens in the General collection of Coleoptera at Doncaster Museum. Some were taken in 1938. (MD 5/02)

DAGEN

Gave beetles from Asbyssinia to the NHM in 1902 (ACC 1902.222)

DALE, Charles William (1851\2 - 20 February 1906)

Son of James Charles Dale (see below) and brother of Edward Robert Dale (see below). Best known as a Lepidopterist and Dipterist but he also published notes on other insects including Coleoptera, eg. 'Scarce Coleoptera', EMM, 26, 1890, p.244 and 'Psammobius caesus in the Scilly Isles', ibid., 32, 1896, p.41. Dale inherited his father's estate at Glanville's Wootton in Dorset and did much of his collecting in that county. Eustace Bankes, who wrote his obituary in EMM, 42, 1906, pp. 91-92, recorded that 'His opportunities [for collecting] were exceptionally good, his boyhood and youth being spent at home, and his educational studies making no very severe tax upon his time... When about thirty years of age, Mr Dale entered Oxford University, but after a short residence, spent chiefly at Wadham College, he returned home to Glanvilles Wootton Manor House, near Sherborne, where practically his whole life was spent.' His rather secluded existence there meant that keeping up with contemporary developments in entomological science was difficult. The writer of his obituary in ERJV, 18, 1906, p. 82, noted this and added 'he loved above all things to indulge in retrospection of things that had been rather than to take a share in the advance of things that are'.

Dale recorded in EMM, 39, 1903, p.300, that he had secured both his brother's British insect collection and his father's foreign collection. Much of this material subsequently passed to the HDO where it is maintained separately (see J.C. Dale below). Amongst the more important items listed by Smith (1986) which relate to Charles William are: a MS of insects in C.W's collection not in his father's; a catalogue of Coleoptera dated 1886; a catalogue of British insects added to the Dalean collection between 1864 and 1905; and letters from 38 correspondents.

With reference to Dale's collection the following note supplied to EMM, 42, 1906, p. 115, by A.E. Eaton is interesting: 'In view of the practice, pursued for a long period, by the late Mr C.W. Dale, of substituting modern specimens in good condition for old and damaged, it should be remembered that he kept a careful register of dates and localities corresponding with the labels of the specimens in his cabinets, by reference to which the old can often be distinguished from the new, and the specimens authentically named by old authors (correspondents of his father) may sometimes be identified. Regard should also be had to the make of the pins of specimens. He relied upon comparison with specimens and illustrations in forming his own conclusions about species, using hand-lenses that were hardly of sufficient power to guide him in all cases to correct decisions; and he professed himself to be by no means facile at identifying insects by means of only written description'.

Dale's library was sold by Stevens on 23 May 1906 (Chalmers-Hunt (1976) p. 145) (MD 5/02)

DALE, Edward Robert (d. 13 August 1903)

Younger son of James Charles Dale (see below). Shared the enthusiasm of his brother and father for entomology in his younger days and presumably interested himself, like them, in most orders, although the only specific records of his activities refer to Lepidoptera. Following the death of his wife in 1892 he took up residence in Salisbury where he traded, not very successfully, as an electrical engineer. He patented a number of inventions including an entomological lamp. His collection of British insects passed on his death to his brother, and his other natural history collections, including material inherited from his parents and some foreign insects, were bequeathed to his son and daughter.

There is an obituary by his brother in EMM, 39, 1903, pp.255-56. (MD 5/02)

DALE, James Charles (1792 - 6 February 1872)

Father of Charles William (see above) and Edward Robert (see above). There is a surprising dearth of published information about Dale who was one of the foremost entomologists of his day and who died aged eighty having devoted most of his adult life to entomological pursuits. The existence of a large amount of manuscript and other personal material relating to Dale in the HDO makes this the more surprising.

Dale was the son of wealthy landowners and received his education at Cambridge where he became MA in 1818. He was a friend of J.F. Stephens who makes numerous references to him in his Illustrations of British Entomology, 1828-1846, and of John Curtis who refers to him frequently in his British Entomology, 1824-1840. Of his friendship with the latter the writer of Dale's obituary in EMM, 8, 1872, pp. 255-56, stated 'it is in connection with John Curtis that the name of J.C. Dale will be handed down to generations of entomologists yet unborn. In the 'British Entomology' his name is on almost every page, and it was from his collections that Curtis derived a vast portion of the material from which his elaborate work was drawn up. The two worked hand in hand, and their names came to be considered as almost synonyms'. This statement needs to be considered, however, in the light of a letter from Dale to A.H. Haliday dated 6 February 1833, quoted by G. Ordish, John Curtis and the Pioneering of Pest Control (1974): 'I see Ellis has Curtis's book at a reduced price now and I fear C. has made a sorry affair of his speculation as I always feared he would, but he thought different then'. The references to Dale in both publications make extensive mention of his Coleoptera collections. He is also mentioned by Dawson (1854) pp. 37, 44 and 160.

Dale's entomological interests extended to all orders. He published his first note, on Lepidoptera, in MNH, 3, 1830, pp. 332-34, and this was followed by some 83 further notes and articles covering a wide range of topics. Many of his general notes, and several specific ones, refer to Coleoptera. Perhaps his most important published work on beetles was the 'Catalogue of the Coleopterous Insects of Dorsetshire', in Nat., 2, 1837, pp. 408-415, and 3, 1838, pp. 12-18.

Dale's collections passed to his sons, and subsequently a large part of them was acquired by the HDO, where they are maintained separately together with a large amount of supporting manuscript and other material. The Dalean collection was housed in 33 cabinets when it was received at Oxford in 1906, of which five cabinets were devoted to Coleoptera. Included in the latter are four drawers of Wollaston beetles from Madeira, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and St. Helena.

Smith (1986) pp.72-73 lists the more important items in the manuscript collection including the following: entomological diaries for 1815, 1835-65, 1860-72; a number of notebooks and calendars covering the years 1807-12, and 1827-30; a list of localities 'entomologized' 1800-69; catalogue of his cabinet of British insects; catalogue of all orders of British insects in his cabinets; cut copy of Curtis's Guide indicating species taken by him and also in whose collection species may be found (based on 1829 edition); notes on contents of letters received and acted upon; his will; and some 5,000 letters from 287 correspondents (includes correspondence of C.W. Dale).

Dale retained his boyhood enthusiasm for entomology, and a good memory for captures made many years earlier, right up until the time of his death.

Elected a member of the first ESL on 25 June 1822, and was one of the original subscribers to Denny (1825). There are obituary notices in EMM, 8, 1872, pp. 255-56 (anonymous); Ent., 6, 1872, p.56 (E. Newman); Proc. ESL, 1872, p.c (J.O. Westwood), and Petites Nouv. Ent., 4, 1872, 197. Gilbert (1977) p.83 also lists a reference in Accentuated list of British Lepidoptera, (Anonymous), 1858, pp. xiii-xiv, which I have not seen. (MD 5/02)

DALES, Rodney Phillips

Lived at Squirrels Heath, Essex, and studied beetles. FRES from 1948. (MD 3/03)

DALGLISH, Andrew Adie

Lived in Pollokshields, Glasgow. Published 'Further captures of Galerucella fergussoni Fowler' in EMM, 46, 1910, pp. 262-63. Also collected Lepidoptera and other orders. His collections were sold by Stevens on 2 December 1924. The Catalogue lists twenty two 16" boxes of beetles two of which contained specimens from Russia (I am most grateful to Eric Gowing-Scopes for sending me a photocopy of the copy of this catalogue in his possession). (MD 5/02)

DALLAS

A Doctor. Collected insects including Coleoptera for the Imperial Bureau of Entomology in Argentina which were given to the NHM in 1928 (1928.170) (MD 5/02)

DALLAS, William Sweetland (31 January 1824 - 28 May 1890)

Born in London. His systematic work was entirely confined to the Hemiptera, but he did write a popular work Elements of Entomology, 1857, which has chapters on beetles. As the editor of Popular Science Review and ANMNH he also promoted Coleoptera, particularly in the latter as the translator and compiler of abstracts of important foreign publications. Dallas also translated Von Siebold's Parthenogenesis from the German in 1858 when it was looked upon not just as physically impossible but also as vastly heretical, and Fritz Muller's Fur Darwin. Another very important service which Dallas provided as someone interested in the literature was to compile the whole of the Insecta part of the Zoological Record, with which he was associated from its commencement in 1864, for five years, and partially for a sixth year.

Dallas was made Curator of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1858, a post which he held until 1868 when he was made Assistant Secretary to the Geological Society in London.

This is presumably the same W. Dallas who gave beetles from Colney Hatch, Kentish Town and Brighton to the NHM in 1847 (1847.63).

Gilbert (1977) p. 83 lists seven obituaries and other notices. (MD 5/02)

DALRYMPLE, T.H.

Gave five Coleoptera and other insects collected in Sierra Leone to the NHM in 1932 (1932.327)

DALTON, Mrs Editha

Gave various gifts on insects collected by herself in Tanganyika to the NHM including 20 beetles in 1926 (1926.102) and one in 1934.

DALTON, G.

Gave an example of Sagra quadraticollis from Sarawak to the NHM on 25 May 1910 (1910.204).(MD 5/02)

DALTON, R.F.

Published 'Pseudomesomphalia indigacea Boh. in Dorset' in EMM, 89, 1953, p.21. He gave his address as the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester. (MD 5/02)

DALTRY, Harold William (11 January 1887 - 20 March 1962)

Son of the Rev. Thomas William Daltry (1832-1904) of Madeley Vicarage, Newcastle, Staffordshire. Educated at Marlborough College. Joined the staff of the London and North Western Railway Works at Crewe as a locomotive designer and tester. After retiring he moved to Rugby where he died.

Daltry's interest in entomology began with Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera and is recorded to have been first stimulated when he was at Marlborough by Edward Meyrick, although his father, who was also an entomologist, must presumably have been an influence too. In 1905 he joined the North Staffordshire Field Club of which his father had earlier been President, and he remained a member until his death, serving at one time as Chairman of the Entomology Section. During this time he interested himself in most orders with the exception of the Diptera, and he published many notes in Transactions of the Club, Ent. and EMM. He was also a keen botanist specialising in the brambles in particular of which Rubus daltrii was named after him.

According to his friend Dr M.W.R. de V. Graham, who wrote his obituary in Ent., 95, 1962, pp. 255-56, Daltry 'early became a very competent Coleopterist', although most of his publications were on Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. His first notes on beetles seem to have been 'Staphylinus globulifer Forc. and allied species in Britain', EMM, 67, 1931, p. 41, and 'Staphylinus aeneocephalus De Geer and S. cupreus Rossi in Britain', ibid., p. 142. Further articles then appeared in this periodical every few years until 'Philonthus dimidiatipennis Erichson in Britain' 94, 1958, p. 66.

In 'Occurrence of Odontoscelis dorsalis Fab. in E. Kent', ibid., 71, 1935, pp. 42-43, he refers to E.C. Bedwell as his friend, and I have seen specimens collected by Daltry in the Bedwell collection in the Castle Museum, Norwich. In 'Cartodere filum Aube in Cheshire', ibid., 84, 1948, p. 9, he mentions W.D. Graddon and H. Britten as friends, and in 'Cicindela germanica L. in Dorset', ibid.., 85, 1949, p. 283 he refers to Philip Harwood as a friend too.

Apart from the Norwich specimens referred to above I have also seen material collected by Daltry in the general collection and in Colin Johnson's collection of British weevils at Manchester. His main collection of British insects of all orders and his notebooks were given to Dr M.W.R. de V. Graham and placed on loan in HDO before being donated to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry in 1983 (Smith (1986) p.112). Among the large number of gifts of insects which he made to the NHM were several of Coleoptera: 1933.38 (2 specimens); 1935.26 (5 weevils) and 1935.81 (4 specimens).

FRES from 1929. Member AES. Apart from the obituary referred to above there is a short note in Proc. RESL, C, 27, 1962-63, p. 50. (MD 5/02)

DALY, Mahon

Gave 2 beetles from Siam to the NHM in 1900 (1900.121) and a further 4 two years later (1902.33). (MD 5/02)

DALY, P.J.

Published 'Ultrastructure of antennal sensilla of Nebria brevicollis (Fab.)' with M.F. Ryan in Int. J. Insect Morph. and Embryology, 8, 1979, pp. 169-181. (MD 5/02)

DANFORD, C.G.

Gave 138 Coleoptera from Asia Minor to the NHM in July 1876 (77.23) and a further 2 specimens (with some fish in spirit) shortly afterwards (77.35). His address is given as the Conservative Club. (MD 5/02)

DARBISHIRE, C.J.

Correspondence with F.W. Hope in the HDO includes a letter dated 1830 with a list of Coleoptera. A collection of mainly water beetles was sent by Darbishire to Hope at this time and is also in the HDO (Smith (1986), pp. 73, 112). (MD 5/02)

DARBY, Michael Douglas (b. 2 September 1944)

This is the compiler of this Biographical Dictionary. Born in Northampton the son of Arthur Darby, an electrical engineer, and Ilene, nee Eatwell. Educated at Longrood preparatory and Rugby schools, High Wycombe College of Further Education and Reading University (Ph.D., 1974). Apprenticed to Barbara Jones, the artist, 1963. Worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1964-89 (Deputy Director 1983-87). Published many books and articles on art and architecture.

Became interested in beetles as a toddler. First serious collecting was carried out at Rugby where he was an active member of the Natural History Society. Has been Coleoptera Recorder for Wiltshire since 1993, Editor of Recording Wiltshire's Biodiversity, which he helped to set up, since 1995, and Natural History Editor of Wiltshire Studies since 2000.

Publications on beetles include: 'Acrotrichis chevrolati (Allibert) in Suffolk', EMM, 117, 1981, p. 155; 'Evidence for parthenogenesis in 'Acrotrichis cognata (Matthews)', ibid., 118, 1982, p. 188; 'A third British Record of Atomaria morio Kolen (Coleoptera: Crytophagidae)', ibid., 116, 1980, p. 172; chapters on Histeroiodea, Ptiliidae, Scydmaenidae, and Pselaphidae in A Coleopterist's Handbook, 3rd edition ed. J. Cooter, AES, 1991; 'Leptura fulva Deg. in Wiltshire', Recording Wiltshire, 2, 1997, pp. 10-11; 'A remarkable aggregation of ptiliid beetles from a grass pile in Burcombe', Recording Wiltshire's Biodiversity, 3, 1998, pp. 9-10; 'Wiltshire Buprestidae', ibid., 4, 1999, pp. 9-11; 'The Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus) in Wiltshire', ibid., 5, 2000,; pp. 12-14; 'The Coleoptera (Beetles) of a Salisbury reedbed including twenty two species new to Wiltshire', Wiltshire Studies, 94, 2001, pp. 154-160; 'The Glow Worm in Wiltshire: records and questions', ibid., pp. 218-219; 'A first attempt to apply the Saproxylic Quality Index for Coleoptera to Wiltshire', Recording Wiltshire's Biodiversity, 6, 2001, pp. 7-10; 'A preliminary account of the ladybirds of Wiltshire (Coleoptera:Coccinellidae) including a previously overlooked record of the five spot (Coccinella quinquepunctata L.)', Wiltshire Studies, 95, 2002, pp. 125-130.

Travelled extensively in the northern hemisphere, and this is reflected in his collection which includes some 10,000+ specimens. The majority of these are Ptiliidae which, with a large amount of other smaller material, are kept in alcohol. The remainder is very strong in Wiltshire material and includes the collection of Marlborough College which he has on permanent loan. It is housed in two 40 drawer cabinets (previously the property of the NHM). The collection includes the paratypes of some twenty or so Sri Lankan, South and North American Ptiliidae, plus a number of new, undescribed species. Specimens taken by him may be found in various collections including the Field Museum, Chicago, the Manchester Museum and the NHM. Agathidium darbyii, which he took in the Philippines, was named after him by Angelini and Cooter.

He has concentrated on building up a library of Coleoptera and history of entomology books which is now extensive.

Member BENHS since 1969; FRESL since 1977 (Council 1988-90; Library Committee 1983-90, Acting Librarian 1989). (MD 5/02)

DARLEY, George

Specimens collected by Darley are in the General Collection at Doncaster Museum (some dated 1903). (MD 5/02)

DARLING, James ffolliott

Gave 25 Coleoptera from South Africa, Christmas Island and the Canary Islands in six batches between 1897 and 1909 to the NHM (97.112; 99.91,122; 1900.236; 1910.195,426). (MD 5/02)

DARWIN, Charles Robert (12 February 1807 - 19 April 1882)

Born at 'The Mount', Shrewsbury the son of Robert Waring Darwin and Susannah, nee Wedgwood, and the grandson of Erasmus Darwin. Began his formal education in 1817 with Mr Case, the local Unitarian Minister, and in the following year moved to Shrewsbury School. In 1825 he determined to take up medicine and joined his brother Erasmus at Edinburgh University, but after two years he gave this up and decided to become a clergyman instead. In 1828 he went up to Christ's College,

Cambridge to take the necessary degree in English. At Cambridge, however, an earlier interest in natural history burgeoned, and after some opposition from his father, he accepted the post of naturalist on board H.M.S. Beagle under Captain Fitzroy. The Beagle sailed on 27 December 1831, and after an extensive tour which took in the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands, South America, the Galapagos Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, the Keeling Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, the Ascension Islands and the Western Isles, returned on 6 October 1836.

The influence of the voyage on Darwin's subsequent career was enormous. Apart from establishing him as a collector, a geologist and a zoologist, it laid the foundation for his subsequent work on evolution. Three years after returning Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood and after initially living in Great Gower Street, London, they moved in 1842 to the village of Down in Kent. Here Darwin led a retiring life - he contracted an illness on the voyage from which he never fully recovered - making occasional trips to scientific meetings, to doctors, and to other members of his family; corresponding with his various scientific friends; and researching and writing the various publications for which he became so well known.

Apart from the well-known On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859, his other chief publications were: Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of HMS Adventure and Beagle, 1832-36; Journal and Remarks, from the third volume of the preceding, subsequently appeared in a second edition titled Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of HMS Beagle, 1845, and a third edition titled A Naturalist's Voyage, 1860; Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, 1840 (edited by Darwin); The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1842, Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands Visited, 1844, and Geological Observations on South America, 1846, constituted the three volumes of The Geology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle; three monographs on different groups of fossils and plants; five volumes on different aspects of plants including On the various Contrivances by which Orchids are fertilised by Insects, 1862; The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 1868; The Descent of Man, 1871; and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872. (For a full list of Darwin's works see R.B.Freeman, The Works of Charles Darwin: an Annotated Bibliographical Handlist, second edition, 1977).

Darwin's interest in beetles has long been known from F. Darwin, The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin including an Autobiographical Chapter, 1887, and other sources. Two more recent publications, however, K.G.V. Smith (ed.), 'Darwin's Insects', in Bulletin of the British Museum (Historical Series), 14 (1), 24 September 1987, 1-143, and F. Burkhardt and F. Smith (eds.), 'The Correspondence of Charles Darwin', particularly 1, 1821-1836, 1985, enable a much fuller picture of his activities in relation to beetles to be formed. What follows is to a large extent a summary of the detailed material in these works.

In the Autobiography Darwin wrote 'I must have observed insects with some little care, for when ten years old (1819) I went for three weeks to Plas Edwards on the sea coast in Wales, I was very much interested and surprised at seeing a large black and scarlet Hemipterous insect, many moths (Zygaena) and a Cicindela which are not found in Shropshire. I almost made up my mind to begin collecting all the insects which I could find dead, for on consulting my sister I concluded that it was not right to kill insects for the sake of making a collection'. In fact, further active interest appears to have waited until he went up to Cambridge, and it was then to the Coleoptera in particular that he turned: 'But no pursuit at Cambridge was followed with nearly so much eagerness or gave me so much pleasure as collecting beetles. It was the mere passion for collecting; for I did not dissect them, and rarely compared their external characters with published descriptions, but got them named anyhow.' His enthusiasm at this time even involved putting beetles into his mouth when his hands were full!

This phase of activity was apparently stimulated by his second cousin, William Darwin Fox, in 1828, for on p.63 of the Autobiography he states: 'I was introduced to entomology by my second cousin, W. Darwin Fox, a clever and most pleasant man, who was then at Christ's College'. Many letters quoted by Burkhardt and Smith testify to the truth of Darwin's involvement with Fox on entomological matters at this time. On 12 June 1828, for example, Darwin wrote to Fox 'I am dying by inches, from not having any body to talk to about insects...My sister has made rough drawings of three of them [all beetles] ... III fig: a most beautiful Leptura (?) very like Quadrifasciata, [Clytus arietis?] only the body is of the same size throughout - I tell you all these particulars as I am anxious to know something about these little g< >s... I have taken three species of Coccinellae, one with 7 white! marks on each elytron - I will mention, as I believe you are interested about it, that I have seen the Cocc: bipunctata (or dispar) 4 or 5 in actu coitus with a black one with 4 red marks... I Have taken Clivina Collaris fig <3> Plate III of Stephens; also a beautiful copper-coloured Elater...Do you want any of the Byrrhus Pillula? I can get any number...'.

Darwin and Fox were joined in their entomological activities at Cambridge by others: John Herbert, William Hore, Leonard Jenyns, Harry Thompson and Albert Way and his correspondence details the numerous outings and captures they made. Way even drew some cartoons of Darwin flourishing a net while riding on the back of beetles with captions such as 'Go it Charlie!' and 'Darwin & his Hobby'. But perhaps the most important of the entomological friendships which Darwin made at this time was with the Rev. Frederick Hope. Darwin wrote to Fox on 29 October 1828 'I have been introduced, & if I may presume to say so, struck up a friendship with Mr Hope: I met him at dinner, & I find he knows all my Scotch friends, & we had so much entomological talk, that he asked me bring over all my insects to Netley...'. The visit did not take place until February in the following year when Darwin wrote again: 'The two first day I spent entirely with Mr Hope. - & did little else but talk about and look at insects: his collection is most magnificent & he himself is the most generous of Entomologists he has given me about 160 new species, & actually often wanted to give me the rarest insects of which he had only two specimens... He greatly compliments our exertions in Entomology & says we have taken a wonderfully great number of good insects'.

In the summer of 1829 Darwin set out on a collecting trip in North Wales with Hope planned to last three weeks, but he became ill after two days and had to return to Shrewsbury. This caused him great sorrow particularly since Hope 'did wonders ... such Colymbetes, such Carabi, & such magnificent Elaters, (2 species of the bright scarlet sort)...' (letter to Fox 3 July 1829).

Darwin also made the acquaintance of J.F.Stephens at this time writing to Fox on 26 February 1829: 'On Monday evening I drank tea with Stephens: his cabinet is more magnificent than the most zealous Entomologist could dream of: He appears to be a very goodhumoured pleasant little man...'. This led to the publication by Stephens of thirty of Darwin's beetles in his Illustrations of British Entomology, 1827-45 (listed in K.G.V.Smith, op. cit., pp. 7-9), a fact of which Darwin was very proud.

Undoubtedly the most important friend which Darwin made at Cambridge, from the point of view of his future career, was John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), Professor of Mineralogy and later of Botany. Henslow was sufficiently interested in beetles to present specimens he had collected to Fox (see letter 5 November 1830, Darwin to Fox), but his interests were also much wider as befitted the subjects he taught, and it was he who pursuaded Darwin to broaden his entomological interests and to take in other aspects of natural history, particularly mineralogy and botany. It was Henslow, too, who was instrumental in obtaining Darwin's appointment to the Beagle, and who subsequently described many of the species he collected. It was also to Henslow that Darwin sent the insects he collected as the voyage progressed.

Thus, Darwin's interest in beetles per se was confined to the period from 1828 to 1831 before he set sail. He did collect numerous beetles while on the Beagle voyage, often in company with his servant Syms Covington, but by this time he was, of course, also collecting and recording in many other fields too, particularly geology. K.G.V. Smith, op. cit., details the localities visited by Darwin on the voyage and the insects collected, together with their present location when known, taking as the basis for this work Darwin's published and manuscript material, particularly the notebooks at Down House, the manuscript Insect Notes in the NHM, and the manuscript Insects in Spirits of Wine at Cambridge. He notes that Darwin had great difficulty after his return in finding taxonomists to identify and describe all his species, and that as a result much of his material was dispersed among specialists and is now lost.

A small storebox of Darwin's British Coleoptera exists in the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge (illustrated by K.G.V. Smith, op. cit., pp. 26-27). A note in the register regarding this collection dated 30 April 1913 states: 'Small collection of British beetles made by Charles Darwin. The beetles were originally in a cabinet, until in the early '70s. G.R. Crotch removed some or all of them into boxes, with the intention of arranging and renaming them. Only one box has been found, which was given to the Museum as Crotch left it, some of the beetles being named in Crotch's handwriting, others with printed labels. Whether the latter were Darwin's or Crotch's naming is not known. Donated by Sir Francis Darwin, F.R.S.'. Crotch, it should be noted, also gave beetles to Darwin.

Another box of beetles is at Down House (illustrated by K.G.V. Smith, op. cit., pp. 37-38). This has been described in the past as containing specimens from the Beagle voyage, but with one exception everything present is British. This box does not contain any of the specimens described by Stephens, however, nor many of the more interesting species referred to in the correspondence. There is a further small box of European beetles at Down House which Smith points out are obviously the Scarabaeidae that Darwin studied for the chapter on sexual selection in vol 1 of the Descent. Ashley Kirk-Spriggs tells me that there are also Darwin specimens from Bahia in the Rippon Collection in NMW.

The major repositories of beetles collected during the Beagle voyage are the University Museum of Zoology at Cambridge, the HDO and NHM. Darwin had little respect for the officials at the last and much of the material there found its way into the collections through G.R.Waterhouse, the Coleopterist. Waterhouse was not only a Keeper but was also curator of the Entomological Society's insect collections, and it was no doubt this latter role that prompted Darwin to entrust his collections to him. It was through Waterhouse that the HDO also acquired many of its Darwin specimens. A box of Darwin insects in the National Museum of Ireland at Dublin, which Francis Walker presented to A.H.Haliday does not include Coleoptera.

A MS (26 leaves) Copy of Darwin's notes in reference to insects collected by him being a list of numbers referring to insects collected during the Beagle voyage, in Syms Covingdon's hand, with additions and corrections by Darwin is in the NHM (Harvey et al (1996) p. 57)

Darwin died at Down House and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Although he disliked the practice of naming new species and genera after individuals, his own name is immortalised in no less than two genera and 60 different species of beetles (listed by K.G.V. Smith, op. cit., pp. 106-109) as well as numerous other insects. (MD 5/02)

DAVENPORT, J.

Gave 15 beetles and other insects which he had collected in the Anamallai Hills to the NHM in 1935 (1935.33) (MD 5/02)

DAVID, H.E.

Published 'Diabrotica soror Lee in Glamorganshire' in EMM, 55, 1919, p.88. This is a N. American species which he found crawling on the sandhills at Gower. (MD 5/02)

DAVIDSON, Anstruther (b. 19 February 1860)

Born at Caithness and studied at the University of Glasgow where he obtained M.B. and C.M. in 1881, and M.D.in 1887. Moved to Los Angeles in 1889 where he practised as a physician before being appointed to Professorships of Dermatology at the University of Southern California and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He lived for some time at Clifton, Alaska.

Davidson is recorded to have been 'one of the early naturalists of Southern California and Alaska being particularly interested in botany and entomology' (Agassiz (1931) p.600). In entomology his main interest was parasites which formed the subject of many of his published notes. One concerned Coleoptera: 'Beetles from bee cells', Ent. News, 18, 1907, p. 446. (MD 5/02)

DAVIDSON, James

Gave a collection of 849 Indian insects, mainly Coleoptera, to the RSM in 1899 (1899.5). (MD 5/02)

DAVIDSON, Noel

Collected Lepidoptera and Coleoptera in Siam with his wife. 80 of the beetles were acquired by the NHM in 1948 (1948.412). (MD 5/02)

DAVIDSON, William F.

Mineralogist who lived at Penrith. Published notes on Lepidoptera and Odonata and two notes about beetles: 'Notes on Cumberland and Westmorland Coleoptera' in EMM, 97, 1961, pp.15-21 and 'Necrophorus interruptus Steph. in Cumberland', ibid., p.264. The former runs to more than 120 specimens. In it he mentions collecting with Harry Britten shortly before his death and with the late W.A. North. Help in identification was provided by F.H. Day (see below).

Eric Gowing Scopes has sent me a photocopy of part of a letter from Davidson in his possession which gives more information about his activities: 'My role was a very menial one, though I did add several species to the County list. I was fortunate in finding Leistus montanus at three localities of much lower elevation than the original 'summit of Skiddaw'. Two of these were on mine wash heaps which I was disturbing when seeking minerals.' 'This was due to the coincidence of a mineralogist being interested in entomology. I think it proves that many things are overlooked in the sphere of entomological recording! One of the localities for L. montanus was at about six hundred feet above sea level and in the Penrith Sandstone area of the Cumbrian plain.' 'Half of my collection of beetles was given to the Hancock Museum at Newcastle and the remainder to Liverpool Museum, where the existing collections were destroyed by war time bombing'. Hancock & Pettit (1981) note that the Hancock Museum acquired the specimens in exchange for fossils on 20 December 1963, and that they occupied 27 store boxes. Davidson's material was amalgamated into the general collection by Elsie Miller.

Simon Hayhow tells me that there are also specimens collected by Davidson in the Oldham Museum.

Davidson was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. (MD 5/02)

A forthcoming book by Michael P. Cooper, Robbing the Sparry Garniture. A History of British Mineral Dealers, 1750-1950, contains information about his mineral dealing activities partly based on conversations which the author had with Davidson before his death. (MD 10/03)

DAVIE

Mentioned by Marsham (1802) in connection with Chrysomela rufitarsis (p. 182) and Dytiscus inaequalis (p.417). (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, Miss

Gave 63 Coleoptera from Algeria to the NHM in 1904 and 1905 (1904.288 and 1905.147). Her address is noted as 28 Hans Place, London, SW. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, David

Published 'Aulonium trisulcum (Fourc.) in Wales' in EMM, 113, 1977, p. 78. This was the first Welsh record. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, E.

Gave 14 Coleoptera from Mexico and North Borneo to the NHM in April 1908 (1908.136). Listed with the same address as G. Davies below. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, G.

Gave a cerambycid from Khasi Hills, Assam to the NHM in May 1907 (1907.164) and another beetle from Bitie, W. Africa in March 1908 (1908.66). He gave his address in 1907 as Walcot, Addiscombe Road, Croydon. See E. Davies above. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, John Henry

An Artillery Officer from Portsmouth. Published short notes on insect periodicity and instinct in Mag. Nat. Hist., 1, 1828, pp. 332-34 and 3, 1830, pp. 247-48. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, M.J.

Listed in Cowley (1948) as interested in Coleoptera, especially Geodephaga. His address at that time was Surbiton Hill Park, Surbiton, Surrey. Subsequent addresses have been in High Wycombe and Orpington, Kent. He published three articles on carabids in EMM, 'Amara montivaga Sturm in Surrey' (86, 1950, p.326), 'The contents of the crops of some British carabid beetles' (89, 1953, pp. 18-23) and 'Feeding behaviour of some Amara spp.' (89, 1953, pp. 18-23). He was attached to Imperial College and to the Bureau of Animal Population, Botanic Garden, Oxford.

BENHS from 1965. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, Michael

Published 'A contribution to the ecology of species of Notiophilus and allied genera' in EMM, 95, 1959, pp. 25-28; 'The larvae of some British Notiophilus', ibid., 99, 1963, pp. 206-209; and Tortrix castana, Schiff and Ceuthorhynchus assimilis (Payk.) on Cardaria draba L.', ibid., 100, 1964, p. 206. The first two of these articles were based on work done for a postgraduate thesis at Oxford. He has also written about laboratory techniques. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, R.D.

Published 'Saperda scalaris (L.) breeding in Caernarvon' in EMM, 88, 1952, p. 205. (MD 5/02)

DAVIES, T. Glyn

Published 'Wheat Stem Flea Beetle Crepidodera ferruginea Scop. damage in cereals in N. Wales' in EMM, 100, 1964, p. 69. E.J. Cadwallader, 'Records of Curculionidae from North Wales', ibid., 104, 1968, p.129, thanks Davies for his help in compiling the list. (MD 5/02)

DAVIS

Formed a general collection of British insects (in 54 drawers) and birds eggs (in 3 drawers) which was given to Clitheroe Castle Museum by his daughter who described it as 'her father's collection' (Hancock & Pettit (1981)). (MD 5/02)

DAVIS

Dawson (1854) p.xi, refers to an article by Davis in Loudon, J.C., Magazine of Natural History, V, which I have not seen. (MD 5/02)

DAVIS, Abraham Hopkins

Published a number of entomological notes up to 1840 when he went to Australia. These included 'Observations on Lucanus cervus, Obrium cantharinum, Vespa vulgaris' in EMM, 1, 1832, pp. 86-87, 90. (MD 5/02)

DAVIS, F.L.

Gave 6 Coleoptera he had collected in Conozal, British Homduras to the NHM (1923.434 and 1926.399). (MD 5/02)

DAVIS, R.L.

Sold 5 British Coleoptera larvae and 1 larva plus wood attacked by Clytus 4-punctata from Italy to the NHM in October 1871 (71.16) (MD 5/02)

DAVIS, W.B.

Published 'Smicronyx reiches Gyll. and Ceuthorhynchus viduatus Gyll. in Gloucestershire' in EMM, 53, 1917, p. 129. The article makes clear that he collected widely in the county. Lived at 3 Rosebank Villas, Churchfield Road, Stroud. (MD 5/02)

DAVIS, William

Gave 11 Coleoptera from Peru to the NHM in 1877 (77.20 where the genera are listed). (MD 5/02)

DAVISON, W.

Mentioned by Arrow (1917) p.255 as collecting in the Anamallai Hills 'many years ago'. 530 of the beetles he collected there and at Coonoor in the Nilgiri Hills, were subsequently given to the NHM in 1885 and 1888 (85.14, 85.15 and 88.1; the index to ACC refers to a fourth entry which I could not find). Davison's address at the time he gave this material was The Museum, Singapore. (MD 5/02)

DAWSON, G. M.

Gave 12 Coleoptera collected in North America to NHM in 1896 (96.168). He was attached to the British North America Commission. (MD 5/02)

DAWSON, John Frederick (1802 - 16 October 1870)

A Reverend. His obituary in EMM, 7, 1871, p.216, refers to his 'personal eccentricity' but does not give more details. Underneath 'he had very many estimable characters'. Apart from his interest in Coleoptera he was a noted Hebrew scholar, and the author of Old Testament Events which contained 'much that is able and ingenious, though some of the conclusions therein deduced might not find general acceptance'.

Dawson's early interest in entomology was with the Lepidoptera on which he published some six notes in the Zoo. between 1843 and 1846. Almost at the same time, however, he developed an interest in the Curculionidae, publishing: 'Does Rhynchites betulae deposit its eggs in rolled-up leaves?', ibid., 3, 1845, p. 1145, and in the Carabidae, presenting six examples of Bembidium (Lymnaeum) nigropiceum Marsham, which he had taken at Ventnor in the Isle of Wight, to the NHM in 1845 (1845.133). Although he subsequently wrote further notes on weevils and other families, it was the ground beetles which came to occupy most of his time.

Dawson published some half dozen articles on the 'Geodephaga' in Zoo. and in Ent. Ann., but his best-known works on this family were Geodephaga Britannica. A Monograph of the Carnivorous Ground Beetles indigenous to the British Isles, 1854, and the Rearrangement of the nomenclature and synonymy of those species of British Coleoptera which are comprised under the sections Geodephaga, Hydradephaga and part of Philhydria, 1856, which was compiled with Hamlet Clark. The Geodephaga Britannica was an important work. Dawson was in touch with a number of foreign specialists and made wide use of British collections. Not only did he suppress the rising tendency to erect the Brachinidae, Scaritidae, Harpalidae and Bembididae to family status, but he also swept away many synonyms erected by earlier authors, reducing the 449 species listed in J. Stephens, Manual, 1839, to 294.

Dawson described a number of species as new to science of which two have survived Dyschirius impunctipennis, which he captured by a stream on the Smallmouth sands near Weymouth, and Bembidium clarkii which he first discovered in the marshes at Herringstone, near Dorchester, and which he named after his friend the Rev. Hamlet Clark.

Apart from the gift to the NHM mentioned above, he also gave 25 specimens from the Isle of Wight and Wales (1849.30); Apion sedi from Deal (1850.68); and 4 Amara from the Isle of Wight (1853.31). (MD 5/02)

DAY, Cyril Douglas (12 August 1885 - 20 January 1968)

Born at Greenhill House, Fordington, the son of Dr Edward Joseph Day and his wife Mary Ann (nee Wetton). Educated at Dorchester Grammar School; Downing College, Cambridge; St. Bartholomew's Hospital and College, London; and Kings College, London. Practised as a physician and surgeon in Dorchester from 1914.

Day was an all-round naturalist with a flair for collecting. His particular enthusiasm in entomology was for Diptera but he also interested himself in other orders including beetles. He was for many years honorary entomological consultant to the Dorset County Museum at Dorchester and to the Suffolk Naturalists Society.

His collections were split up after his death insects passing to Southampton, the HDO, the Dorset County Museum and elsewhere. The collection in the Dorset County Museum includes boxes of Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera and a 120-drawer cabinet of miscellaneous Dorset insects. Roger Key tells me that beetles collected by Day in Dorset are in the Department of Zoology at Hull University). 8 beetles collected while he was in Macedonia, apparently on a trip with Dr J. Waterson, were given to the NHM in June 1934 (1934.313)

The HDO acquired his personal diary from 1900-1968 in 10 bound volumes and a collection of 229 photographs of British entomologists with biographical details.

There is a note about Day in Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 90, 1968. (MD 5/02)

DAY, F.

A Doctor. He gave 3 Coleoptera from Malabar to the NHM in 1875 (75.30) and two from Dublin and one from Simla in 1877 (77.28). A further 12 beetles from India 'found in the Spirit Building with the collection of the late Dr F. Day', in 1892, presumably relate to this donor (92.51). (MD 5/02)

DAY, Frank Henry (1875 - 10 September 1963)

Well known Cumberland entomologist who was one of the founder members of the Carlisle Natural History Society and Honorary Curator of the Carlisle City Museum from 1929 until his death.

Day's interests in entomology were wide ranging and he published many notes on the Cumberland representatives of various different orders. The Coleoptera were his main concern however and the subject of more than sixty notes and articles in various journals from 1894 until just before his death. One of the last 'Some beetles of the Cumberland Coast' appeared in the first number of the new periodical Changing Scene in 1957 (pp.47-50). The most important of his publications on beetles was undoubtedly his list of 'The Coleoptera of Cumberland' which appeared in Trans. Carlisle Natural History Society, 1, 1909, pp. 122-50; 2, 1911, pp. 201-56; 3, 1923, pp. 70-108; 4, 1928, pp. 135-36; 5, 1933, pp. 117-125, and was based on the list which he had published in the Victoria County History in 1901. In putting together this list which added more than 1,300 species to the previous total for the county of 500, Day was assisted initially by James Murray and George Routledge, and later by Harry Britten, but undertook the bulk of the work himself. Many of the more interesting captures formed the subject of separate notes and articles in EMM, Naturalist, etc..

Beetles collected by Day may be found in the Bedwell collection at the Norwich Castle Museum, in the general collection at Manchester, in the Hudson Beare collection at the RSM (listed in 'Additional species sent to the Hudson Beare Collection' (in 1944)), and in the British Coleoptera collection at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter (some dated 1909). His main collection, housed in 28 double-sided store boxes, is in the Carlisle Museum (70-1963) where collections made by him of other orders are also preserved. He gave 7 Coleoptera from Cumberland to the NHM in 1925 (1925.136, included four species new to the Museum), 2 in 1927 (1927.440), and 4 more from Cumberland including Dyschirius angustatus in 1933 (1933.344)

There appear to be no obituary notices of Day in the entomological press. I have a note of a piece in Cumberland News, 13 September 1963, p.14, which I have not seen. His son was recorded to be living in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, in March 1979.

FRES from 1903 (MD 3/03)

DEANE, G.

Gave 5 Coleoptera from Cape Colony to the NHM in 1900 (1900.51). Probably related to H.F.Deane who gave a weevil from the same locality in 1908 (1908.43). (MD 6/02)

DEANE, J. Davy

Published 'Dytiscus dimidiatus Bergstr. in South Wales' in EMM, 70, 1934, 261. He was attached to the Department of Zoology at the NMW. (MD 6/02)

DEARING, Ernest

Lived at Burnley, Lancashire, and collected Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. FRES 1960-62. (MD 3/03)

DEBY, Julian

Published a note on Lyctus canaliculatus in Zool., 6, 1848, p.2116. Presumably this is the same J. Deby who later gave 5 Coleoptera from Java to the NHM (91.31) and Afractocerus luteolus Fairm. from Sumatra (91.46). An extract from a letter with the latter mentions how it was caught, that he spent one year in Sumatra and that other specimens were given to the Belgian Entomological Society. He lived at 31 Belsize Avenue, S. Hampstead, London. (MD 6/02)

Mick Cooper informs me that there is further information about Deby in Nottingham Museum. (MD 10/03)

DECIE

A Captain. Gave 4 Coleoptera from Karachi to the NHM in 1900 (1900.119) (MD 6/02)

DEGEN, E.

The NHM purchased 100 Coleoptera in 1899 which Degen had collected in Australia (99.147), and in 1909 he gave two further beetles he had collected in Uganda (1909.183). (MD 6/02)

DE LA GARDE, Philip le Hardy (1868 - 12 May 1913)

Born in Exeter where his father and grandfather were distinguished surgeons. Educated at Christ's Hospital. He began his professional life as a clerk in Lloyd's Shipping Office but at the age of 17 he entered the Royal Navy as assistant clerk. He remained in the Navy throughout his working life rising to the rank of Paymaster, before his health failed and he was invalided out in 1905.

De la Garde had an interest in Natural History and particularly entomology from his youth. Initially he worked on the Lepidoptera, but as his duties took him on more and more trips around the world, and as his collections grew, he gravitated to the Coleoptera, with, as second favourite, the Hemiptera.

Following his retirement from the Navy de la Garde spent much of his time convalescing at different locations in Devon with his mother. Localities were chosen specifically for their entomological interest with the result that he gained an extensive knowledge of the Devon fauna. J.H.Keys, who had himself devoted considerable attention to Devon beetles and who often collected with him, wrote in his obituary of de la Garde in EMM, 49, 1913, pp. 161-162, that there was little doubt that this work 'would have resulted in the appearance of a new county list, as he had already drafted a skeleton plan with that object in view'. Many of his more interesting Devon captures formed the subjects of notes in this magazine and in the Ent.

De La Garde's main collection of beetles is in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter (890\1913) where it has been incorporated into the general British collection. 84 beetles which he collected in Malta and Corfu were given by him to the NHM in 1892 (92.50), and in 1906 he exchanged with the same Museum 120 beetles from various localities (1906.88). Specimens of Ceutorhynchus parvulus Brisout collected by him at Bramton were given to the NHM by E.A. Newbery in 1908 (1908.221).

Shortly before his death de la Garde acquired the residue of the collections made by T.V. Wollaston in the Atlantic Islands. These included a large number of specimens requiring conservation, a task to which Keys recorded that: 'he applied himself... with most gratifying results'. Keys also noted that de la Garde's 'setting of the specimens in his own collection of British beetles is a model of neatness. He spared himself no pains in this respect, and no untidy example was allowed to pass muster'.

FES from 1892. Apart from the obituary mentioned above there is another in ERJV, 25, 1913, p.205. (MD 6/02)

DELAP, M.J.

Thanked for help by Johnson & Halbert (1902), p.543. Presumably this is the same M. Dulap who published 'A rare weevil in Counties Dublin and Kerry' in INJ, 3, 1930, p. 20. Miss Delap, who is also thanked (p.542), was presumably a relative. (MD 6/02)

DE LA TOUCHE, J.

Gave 13 Coleoptera which he had collected in China and Formosa to the NHM (99.132, 99.252. 1906.145. 1906.146). He lived at The Brambles, Scarth Road, Barnes, London. (MD 6/02)

DENDY, Miss

Left 56 Coleoptera from Darjeeling 'without instruction' in the NHM in 1883 (1903.374). (MD 6/02)

DENNIS, Alfred W.

Correspondence with W.E.Sharp is in the Liverpool Museum (Volume 2, p.380). (MD 6/02)

DENNY, Henry (1803 - 7 March 1871)

Born in Norwich. Lived there until 1825 when he moved to Leeds following his appointment as Sub-Curator (later re-titled Curator and Assistant Secretary) of the Leeds Philosophical Society. He was also Secretary to the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic Society which involved various duties including the preparation for publication of the Transactions. To both Societies he contributed frequent papers on a wide range of subjects including entomology.

Denny's interest in beetles was mainly confined to the period before 1825 when he published his well-known Monographia Pselaphidarum et Scydmaenidarum Britanniae or an 'Essay on the British species of the Genera Pselaphus, of Herbst. and Scydmaenus of Latreille in which those Genera are subdivided, and all the Species hitherto discovered in Great Britain are accurately described and arranged, with an indication of the Situations in which they are usually found: each Species illustrated by a highly magnified Figure', and moved to Leeds. In Norwich he appears to have been in close contact with a number of entomologists including Rev. William Kirby, to whom he dedicated his book and thanked 'for innumerable instances of patronage, and personal favours', and Simon Wilkin, who printed and published it for him. He also knew George Samouelle who referred to him as 'our much respected friend'.

The Monographia is remarkably detailed for its date, and although Denny occasionally ascribes the males and females of the same species to different species, two of his new Scydmaenidae Scydmoraphes sparshalli, and Stenichnus bicolor, and six of his new Pselaphidae: Bibloporus bicolor, Bibloplectus pusillus, Euplectus kirbyi, E. sanguineus, Bythinus burrelli and Bryaxis puncticollis still survive.

Following his move to Leeds Denny seems to have devoted himself to the study of parasitic insects and he published only one further piece on the Coleoptera 'Note on Clytus arietis' in Ent. Mag., 2, 1834, p.114. His new interest eventually led to the publication of the Monographia Anoplurorum Britanniae, 1842, for which he received a special grant from the British Association, and to a catalogue of the Anoplura in the British Museum published in 1852. Some notes for his work on Anoplura are now in the HDO, including correspondence with Hope and Westwood. A collection of Anoplura, including some Darwin material, was purchased by Westwood from Denny's representatives after his death and is also in this institution.

Apart from his close association with the Yorkshire Societies mentioned above Denny was also a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and of the Syro-Egyptian Society in London; an Associate of the Linnean Society (from 19 December 1843); and an honorary Member of the Philosophical Society of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

There is an obituary in Proc.LSL., 1870-71, pp.84-85. (MD 6/02)

DENSON, John

Published 'Scolytus destructor, not a destroyer of a healthy tree' in Mag. Nat. Hist., 4, 1831, pp. 152-57. Also published notes on Diptera and Dermaptera. (MD 6/02)

DENVIL, Horace Gaskell (1901 - 17 September 1968)

All round naturalist with interests in birds and reptiles - he kept snakes, terrapins and an alligator until it outgrew its accommodation! - entomology and horticulture. Denvil was employed by the National Provincial Bank from 1917 until his retirement forty years later. He worked at first in the city of London but later moved to the Warwick Gardens branch where he had to represent the bank at Earls Court and Olympia exhibitions. He married in 1928 and had a twin son and daughter.

Of his natural history interests entomology appears to have been his main concern. A.S. Wheeler recorded in his obituary notice of Denvil in Proc. BENHS, 2(2), 1969: 'his interests, while centred upon the Coleoptera for the last 35 years or so, included an earlier specialisation in Lepidoptera.'

A collection of Coleoptera made by Denvil comprising some 600 specimens was purchased as part of the C. Norton collection by Bolton Museum in 1977 where it is maintained separately (Hancock and Pettit (1981)).

FRES; member of the Royal Horticultural Society; the Zoological Society of London; the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; the BENHS (Wheeler notes that the requirements of his work at the bank sometimes prevented him from attending meetings but that he was otherwise an active participant) and the London Natural History Society. (MD 6/02)

DE PORREKIN

Mentioned by Bartindale in EMM, 83, 1947, p. 50 as a collector in the Macclesfield area who was then dead. (MD 6/02)

DERBY, Earl of

See STANLEY, Edward Smith

DERHAM, William (26 November 1657 - 5 April 1735)

Published 'A letter concerning an Insect that is commonly called Death-Watch' in Philosophical Transactions, 22(271), 1701, pp. 832-834. He was a Doctor of Theology who was born in Stowton and died in Upminster. He also published articles on wasps and other insects. (MD 6/02)

DESVIGNES, Thomas (1812 - 11 May 1868)

General entomologist known primarily for his work on varieties and speciation in Lepidoptera particularly Peronea cristana, and for his Catalogue of the British Ichneumonidae in the British Museum, 1856. He also worked on Coleoptera, however, particularly in the early part of his career when he published a 'Note on Elater crocatus from Ziegler', in Ent. Mag., 4, 1837, p.255; 'New British Elater' in Ent., 1, 1842, p.326, and 'Captures in Shirewood Forest', ibid., pp.188-89. The new Elater, which he called Elater rufitarsis, was taken from rotten wood in Windsor Forest and is now synonymised with Ampedus nigerrimus (Lacordaire). The Shirewood list included some 37 rare species of Coleoptera. As late as 1856 when he was thoroughly immersed in the Ichneumonidae he still listed the Coleoptera before his other interests in Ent. Ann.

Desvignes died at Woodford, Essex where he had lived for at least ten years. His collection was sold by Stevens a few weeks later on 30 June 1868. The EMM noted that it was 'altogether a fine one, and in the Ichneumonidae, as may be supposed, the finest ever formed of the British species. In the aculeate Hymenoptera it is also good, including as it does, the types of Schuckard's Fossores; and in the the Coleoptera it is rich in Elateridae and Xylophaga, containing many rare species in other groups, and including Schuckard's collection. There is also a good collection of Diptera, to which order Mr Desvignes at one time paid considerable attention' (5, 1868, p.26). Part of this material appears to have been acquired by Edward Wesley Janson. Oliver Janson, his son, noted in his diary, now in the Cambridge University Zoological Museum, that his father had made a purchase at the sale.

There are obituaries in EMM, 5, 1868-69, pp.25-26, and Trans. ESL, Proc. LVI, 1868. The latter, by Edward Newman, makes no mention of Coleoptera. (MD 6/02)

DIBB, John Rothwell (10 April 1906 - 5 May 1973)

An insurance broker who lived in the Leeds area of Yorkshire until the late 1940s when he moved to Nottingham. Although he worked on the Neuroptera, Diptera, Ephemeroptera and other orders, he is best known to entomologists for his Field Book of Beetles, 1948, for his revision of the Batocerini (co-author) in Spolia Zeylanica, 1948, and for the Passalidae sections of the Coleopterorum Catalogus, 1935, with supplement in 1958. The latter was compiled in conjunction with W.D.Hincks, with whom he worked closely, and was the result of a detailed study of this group which Dibb had started in his early twenties. He also contributed five articles on beetle ecology to the Coleopterist's Bulletin, 1948-49. An early but little-known publication was a list of the Coleoptera of the Adel district of Leeds which was produced by the Leeds Naturalists Club and Scientific Association as an Occasional Paper. His publications on Passalidae included descriptions of numerous new species and genera.

The Field Book was of particular interest because it was bionomic in arrangement and allowed determination of species on ecological criteria rather than conventional taxonomic lines. 2,500 species are included in the keys. I have in my library a single sheet headed 'Beetle Natural History', published by A. Brown and Sons, the publishers of Dibb's book, which gives details of a student's course which they organised based on the Field Book. The course comprised 22 lessons including many field trips to the different habitat groups listed by Dibb. It is not clear whether Dibb himself was the teacher.

Dibb's collection was dispersed several years before his death. Part went to the Leeds Museum, where it remained during the War (some specimens were lost through bombing). This part, consisting mainly of a world-wide collection built up by purchase between 1930 and 1940, subsequently found its way to Manchester through Hincks where it was later united with other material which the museum acquired from Leeds. Other parts went to the Museum at Nottingham and to the NHM.

FRES from 1930 (with a short break in the late 1960s). There is an obituary by A.D. Lees in Proc. RESL, 38, 1973-74 (C), pp. 58-59. (MD 3/03)

Mick Cooper informs me that there is further information about Dibb in Nottingham Museum. (MD 10/03)

DIBB, Reginald Arthur Lawrence

Lived at Kirkella, East Yorkshire, and collected Coleoptera. FRES from 1949. (MD 3/03)

DICKINSON, James A.

Worked at the Sheffield City Museum between 1971-73 when he contributed many Coleoptera to the collections (I am grateful to Steve Garland for this information). (MD 6/02)

DICKSON

Mentioned by Marsham (1802) p.388 as the owner of Elater pectinicornis L. (MD 6/02)

DICKSON, Matthew

Gave more than 100 Coleoptera from Formosa to the NHM in 1878 (78.20 and 78.24). Lived at Dunbeth Lodge, Coatbridge. (MD 6/02)

DIGBY, Bassett

Gave 8 Coleoptera which he had collected in Kirensk, NE Siberia, and 246 Coleoptera and other insects which he had collected in Finland and Esthonia in July 1920, to the NHM (1915.349 and 1920.412). (MD 6/02)

DIGBY, Henry Somerville

Listed in Ent. Ann., 1860, as being interested in the 'Coleoptera of the whole world'. His address is given as Trinity Hall, Cambridge. (MD 6/02)

DIGGLES, Silvester (24 January 1817 - 21 March 1880)

Born in Liverpool. Emigrated to Australia in 1853 and after residing for one year in Sydney moved to Brisbane with his family. Best known as an ornithologist and as a draughtsman, but he collected insects too. The Cetoniid Dysectoda digglesi was named after him by Janson.

Diggles's collection of Lepidoptera is in the South Australian Museum at Adelaide. 215 Coleoptera collected by Diggles in Australia were purchased by the NHM from Stevens in 1857 (57.130).

There is an account with bibliography in A. Musgrave (1932) pp. 64-65. A longer and more recent biography with portrait and bibliography, which I have not seen, was published by E.N. Marks in Queensland Naturalist, 17, 1963, pp. 15-25. (MD 6/02)

DILLON, Hon. R.E.

Thanked by Johnson & Halbert (1902) p.542 for help. (MD 6/02)

DILLWYN, Lewis Weston (1778 - 31 August 1855)

Born at Ipswich the son of William Dillwyn of Higham Lodge, Walthamstow. Received his early education at a Friends' school at Tottenham. It was here that he met Joseph Woods who was to remain his life-long friend and who accompanied him to Folkestone after leaving school in an attempt to improve his poor health. In 1798 he moved to Dover where he began the botanical studies which were to occupy an important part of his life and which formed the bulk of his publications.

In 1802 his father purchased the Cambrian Pottery at Swansea and in the following year Lewis moved there to take charge of it. His botanical studies, and subsequently his studies of shells and insects, were put to good use in the decoration of the porcelain made at the works until 1814 when the production turned to more utilitarian earthenwares. It was while living at Swansea that he produced the work for which he is well known to Coleopterists, the Memoranda relating to Coleopterous Insects found in the neighbourhood of Swansea, 1829.

Dillwyn became the Member of Parliament for Glamorganshire in 1832 following periods as a magistrate and as High Sheriff of the county. The Freedom of the Borough of Swansea was presented to him in 1834, and from 1835-1840 he served as Alderman and Mayor. He gave up parliamentary duties in 1837. His work on the Fauna and Flora of the Swansea District, 1848, was produced as a result of his appointment as Vice President of the British Association meeting held in the town in the same year. Shortly after this his health began to fail and he withdrew from outside pursuits. He died at Sketty Hall leaving two sons and two daughters.

Dillwyn outlined the extent of his involvement with Coleoptera in the preface to the Memoranda as follows: 'Without ever having made Entomology a principal study, it was my amusement for several years, when walking in the neighbourhood, to collect Coleopterous Insects, and to make Memoranda of the situations in which they are usually found, and of any circumstance relating to their habits or specific characters that appeared to be worth notice... Any thing like a perfect Catalogue I am, however, unable to attempt, for, when these Notes were chiefly made, there were numerous species for which it was impossible to find a name...' In describing his interest in beetles as merely an 'amusement' Dillwyn seems to have been characteristically depreciatory about his efforts. Apart from its importance as one of the first British local lists of Coleoptera, the Memoranda, which he printed and published privately, runs to 75 pages of detailed information and shows a good knowledge of the contemporary British literature.

Dillwyn refers to specimens sent to him by Kirby in February 1805 (p. 71) so that his interest must have extended for at least 25 years. Furthermore, he states that he asked William Leach to name 97 species for him in 1819 and that Leach had informed him 'that forty nine had never been described in any British or Foreign publication, and that twenty were were not to be found either in his own extensive Cabinet or at the British Museum'. In arranging his notes for publication Dillwyn acknowledges the help of his friend J.G. Jeffrys who also 'added many species'.

There is an obituary in Proc. LSL, 1856, p. 36, and an account of his life and work in DNB (MD 6/02)

DINNAGE, Harry (1876 - 2 October 1955)

Born in Horsham and lived there for the greater part of his life. A cabinet maker by profession, he served in the Boer War and in the Navy during the First World War, and was also employed as an estate gardener.

In his obituary of Dinnage in EMM, 91, 1955, p. 292, A.A. Allen records that his first interest in entomology was the Lepidoptera but that this gave way to the Coleoptera around 1925 under the influence of his friend Dr Padwick who lived in Horsham and knew Norman Joy. Allen, who exchanged specimens with Dinnage, further records that 'He amassed a considerable representative collection of British beetles, largely local captures for he had few chances to collect much outside his own area... near the end of his life he was engaged in compiling a list of his captures in the Horsham district, which he looked forward to seeing in print... His outstanding discovery, by which British Coleopterists will remember him, was that of the Australian fern-weevil Syagrius intrudens Wat. breeding at large in private grounds near Horsham.'

Dinnage published six notes in the EMM after 1945, when he lived at Guildford, detailing his captures in Surrey and Sussex. A further note (91, 1955, p.ii) written shortly before his death, records his intention to sell his Coleoptera books including a small paper copy of Fowler. His collections were housed in cabinets of his own making.

FRES from 1929; member of the British Empire Naturalist's Association (mid-southern branch. He gave slide lectures and acted as referee in Coleoptera); and phenological observer for the Royal Meterological Society. There is another obituary in Proc. RESL, 20, 1955-56 (C), pp. 74-75. (MD 6/02)

DINNING, M.

Gave 400 British Coleoptera to the Hancock Museum, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on 7 April 1884 (Davis and Brewer (1986)). (MD 6/02)

DISTANT, G. L.

Gave one specimen of Catoxantha castelnaudi to the NHM in 1870 (70.25) and another of Monochammus sp. In 1873 (73.30). Both specimens were from Penang. (MD 6/02)

DISTANT, William Lucas (12 November 1845 - 4 February 1922)

Born at Rotherhithe the son of Captain Alexander Distant 'who in old South-Sea whaling-days, sailed round and round the world, and transmitted a love of roaming to his sons' (dedication by William in a Naturalist in the Transvaal (1892)). It was in his father's company on one of these voyages, which set out on 5 August 1867 for the Malayan Peninsula, that Distant acquired the love of natural history, and particularly entomology, which was to dominate the rest of his life.

In his early career Distant was connected with a tannery. The work involved making two extensive trips to the Transvaal, the first between 1890-1891 and the second, a few years later, for a period of four years. During both visits he made extensive collections of insects including Coleoptera. His book A Naturalist in the Transvaal, 1892, written after the first trip, includes a list of Coleoptera (with text and determinations by C.J. Gahan, M. Jacoby, H.W. Bates, G. Lewis, C.O. Waterhouse and others) occupying 23 pages (187-210). The second resulted in the publication of a much more extensive work under the title Insecta Transvaaliensia, twelve parts of which were issued between 1900-1911 as volume 1.

The NHM purchased many thousands of Coleoptera and other insects collected by Distant during his two trips in ten main and several smaller instalments, before 1920.

After his return Distant became increasingly involved with the Rhynchota and it is for his work on this group that he is chiefly known by entomologists. He worked exclusively on them at the NHM between 1899-1920 for two or three days each week and the group forms the subject of most his large number of publications. The Eumolpid beetle Merius distanti was named after him by Jacoby.

Distant's health failed as a result of cancer and he died in a nursing home at Wanstead. Gilbert (1977) lists six obituaries and other notices.

FRES from 1875 (Secretary 1878-80, Vice President 1881, 1900); member of the Societe Entomologique de France from 1868; Director and Honorary Secretary of the Anthropological Institute 1878-1881, Editor of the Zool. 1897-1914; and Member of the Societe Entomologique de Belgique. (MD 6/02)

DIXEY, Frederick Augustus (9 December 1855 - 14 January 1955)

Well-known Lepidopterist. 41 Coleoptera which he collected with G.B. Longstaff in South Africa were given to the NHM by Longstaff in 1905 (1905.314).

There are 9 obituaries and other notices listed in Gilbert (1977). (MD 6/02)

DOBBIE, H.B.

Gave 497 Coleoptera which he had collected in Mashonaland and Beira to the NHM in 1903 (1903.174). (MD 6/02)

DOBBIE, J.B.

Gave 142 Indian insects (mainly Coleoptera) to the RSM in 1896 (1896-8) (Listed in the annual Register)

DOBREE, Robert B.

Bequeathed 21 Coleoptera to the NHM in 1880 (80.15). His address is recorded as 4 Queens Gate Place, London,SW. (Related to Nicholas Frank Dobree, the well-known Lepidopterist?) (MD 6/02)

DOBSON, Ronald Matthew

Dobson did his Ph.D. at the University of London on species of Psylliodes. Parts of this research were subsequently published, eg. 'Hatching of the egg in the Cabbage stem flea beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala' in EMM, 95, 1959, p.180, and 'The immature stages of the flea beetles Psylliodes cuprea and P. chrysocephala', ibid., 96, 1960, p. 1. Dobson's research also showed that the third instar larva of Aleochara inconspicua Aube is a parasite of the wheat bulb fly Leptohylemyia coarctata (Fall) (ibid., 100, 1964, pp. 210-211).

Worked in 1948 for the Ministry of Food (Infestation Division) in Glasgow. Subsequently moved to Rothamstead where he did a considerable amount of research on the genus Carpophilus. This resulted in the identification and description of a number of new species frcm Australia and elsewhere (see EMM, 88, 1952, p.256; 91, 1955, pp. 299-300; 92, 1956, pp. 41-42; 95, 1959, p. 156; and 105, 1969, pp. 99-100). Later he returned to Glasgow as lecturer at the University in entomology and agriculturally inclined subjects, from which he is now retired. His work on Coleoptera at this time included a list of the Coleoptera of the Isle of Muck and another paper on new species of Carpophilus from Australasia in Storkia, 2, 1993.

Gave 7 Colydiidae and another beetle which he had taken from ships arriving at Glasgow to the NHM in 1947 (1947.82) and 1948 (1948.436).

I am grateful to Geoff Hancock for information about Dobson. (MD 3/03)

Geoff Hancock informs me that Dobson prepared a list of the beetles of the Isle of Muck when working as lecturer in entomology and agriculturally inclined subjects at the University of Glasgow. (MD 10/03)

DOGGETT, W.L.

Member of the Delme Radcliffe Expedition\Anglo German Boundary Commission. While on the expedition he collected 225 Coleoptera in Uganda which he gave to the NHM in 1904 (1904.23). (MD 6/02)

DOLLING, William Rodney (b. 7 February 1945)

Well-known hemipterist who worked at the NHM 1970-1991 and wrote the book The Hemiptera, OUP, 1991. He did publish one article on beetles: 'The first record of Apion dispar Germar in Britain' in EMM, 110, 1974, p. 181, based on a specimen which he had taken at Lydden in Kent on 4 August 1967. I am grateful to Mr Dolling for writing to me about himself. (MD 3/03)

DOLLMAN, Hereward Chune (10 March 1888 - 3 January 1919)

Educated at St. Paul's School and as a Scholar and School Exhibitioner at St. John's College, Cambridge. His interest in entomology started with the Lepidoptera when he was aged five, and over the next ten years he built up with his father and brother a very complete collection. While at St Paul's his interests turned to beetles, and specimens collected by him survived in the school collection in 1919. He continued to collect beetles while at Cambridge and after leaving, and he published a number of notes about his more interesting captures, eg. 'Coleoptera at Ealing, 1911' in EMM, 48, 1912, pp. 12-13; and 'Bledius fracticornis Pk. near London [Kew]', ibid., p.13. He described Philonthus donisthorpei as new to science in 1910 (= intermedius Boisduval and Lacordaire) and Longitarsus plantagomaritimus in 1912.

On 3 January 1913 Dollman left England for Central Africa as entomologist to the Sleeping Sickness Survey of the British South Africa Company. He was stationed first at Mwenga and later at Kashitu, and it was in these districts that the greater part of his collections of African Coleoptera were made. His work in connection with the 'Tsetse' fly resulted in the discovery of a parasite, a species of Mutilla, new to science.

After nearly three years in Africa he returned to England on leave and married on 23 February 1916 Norah, eldest daughter of Dr and Mrs Holloway of Bedford Park, West London. She returned with him to Africa but died at Kasenpa on 5 July 1916 after a long trek across NW Rhodesia. Dollman then moved to Solwezi and gave his attention to breeding Lepidoptera and making careful drawings of the larvae, but he contracted sleeping sickness himself, and knowing that he had but a short time to live, he returned to England via Cape Town in 1918. After working hard to arrange his collection of African Lepidoptera he died in the following year at the age of thirty at his residence, Hove House, Bedford Park.

Dollman gave two specimens of Olophrum nicholsoni to the NHM in 1910 (1910.189) and a further six beetles from Rhodesia in 1916 (1916.95). The bulk of his collections: 40,026 specimens from Rhodesia and 7,272 from England, were presented to the same Museum at the time of his death (1919.79), and a further 27 specimens which he had collected in Rhodesia were subsequently presented by Horace Donisthorpe (1921.276). Donisthorpe also gave a series of 15 Rhodesian Staphylinidae collected by Dollman and named by M. Cameron, including paratypes, to the HDO in 1929.

Five of Dollman's collecting diaries covering the period from 1909-1912 are in the NHM where are also housed: a MS notebook: Coleopterous fauna of Ditchling, Sussex and the surrounding area, c.1912; two MS collecting notebooks: Coleopterous fauna of Sussex; three MS notebooks: Coleoptera taken personally, c. 1908-1912; one MS notebook: British Coleoptera data; one notebook: Phytophagous Coleoptera and their foodplants; and other notebooks, drawings, etc. concerning Lepidoptera (listed in Harvey et al (1996), pp.59-60)

An interesting note about Dollman's collection appeared in EMM, 55, 1919, pp.135-6: 'The Rhodesian Lepidoptera and Coleoptera are particularly valuable, and it is the first time that such an extensive series of beetles had been obtained from that part of Africa. Dr Neave, it is true, had previously made large collections of the more conspicuous Coleoptera in the same region, but the smaller forms are not to be found amongst his insects. All that can be said at the present is, that the Longicornia, Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Tenebrionidae, Buprestidae, Phytophaga, and Curculionidae are particularly well represented in the Dollman Collection, and there must be many new species amongst them, particularly in the Staphylinidae ... The Lepidoptera, it may be observed, were all taken or bred by Dollman during his second stay in N.W.Rhodesia, when he was in a very bad state of health, as a result of the Tsetse-fly attacks, the Coleoptera having been captured during the years 1913-1915, on his first sojourn in the country'. Further details are given of the Lepidoptera collections.

Scirtes dollmani, which he collected in Rhodesia, was named after him by G.C. Champion.

There is an obituary notice in EMM, 1919, pp.139-40. (MD 6/02)

DOMBRAIN, H.H.

Mentioned in Johnson & Halbert (1902) pp.543 and 546. The second reference is to a note by Dombrain on the cockchafer in the third annual report of the Dublin Natural History Society, 1841. (MD 6/02)

DOMINICUS, G.

Subscribed to two copies of Denny (1825). He Lived at East Farleigh in Kent. (MD 6/02)

DONALD, R. G.

Gave three gifts of insects including Coleoptera and larvae from the West Indies to the NHM in 1946 (1946.5 and possibly 1946.260). (MD 6/02)

DONALDSON, J.M.I.

Published 'Descriptions of and a key to larvae of some S. African Cetoniinae' in EMM, 123, 1987, pp.1-13. (MD 6/02)

DONCASTER, C.C.

Collected insects in S. America some of which he exchanged with the NHM. 5 Dytiscidae which he collected in Columbia were given to the Museum by Dr W. Philipson (1950.409). (MD 6/02)

DONISTHORPE, Horace St. John (17 March 1870 - 22 April 1951)

Information about Donisthorpe is surprisingly thin considering that he lived to the age of 80 and for much of his life was one of our foremost Coleopterists. One might have thought that the strength of character hinted at by contemporaries; his 'kinks', about which I have heard and seen various references; and the controversy which surrounded some of his new species, would have ensured a fuller record, but this is not the case.

He was educated at Mill Hill House, Leicester and Oackham Grammar School before going to Heidelberg University to study medicine. His 'too sensitive nature' forced him to give up this career however, and, being possessed of a private income, from about 1890 he devoted his life to the study of beetles and ants. Frank Bouskell, who described Donisthorpe as 'his oldest friend' wrote in ERJV, 63, 1951, p.228: 'He did his early collecting with me at Bradgate Park, Bardon Hill and Budon Wood where he was first interested in ants and their hosts. About this time I first introduced him to Mr F. Bates, brother of Bates of the Amazons, who later gave him his almost complete collection of Coleoptera. [On this statement see Bates, F.]. Later on we went to Wicken Fen, the New Forest, Isle of Wight, etc... I should [also] mention our joint trip to South Kerry'. Probably the best known of his collecting grounds was Windsor where he had permission to collect extensively and where so many of his important discoveries were made.

Donisthorpe published some 800 books and articles from 1890 when his first note, on Creophilus maxillosus v. ciliaris Steph. appeared in the EMM The majority were on beetles and ants. His first article on myrmecophilous Coleoptera specifically appeared in 1896. The most important of his publications are: Catalogue of British Coleoptera, 1904, compiled with T. Hudson Beare; 'The Coleoptera of the Isle of Wight' in Leics. Lit. Phil. Soc., 10, 1906, pp.3-23; the supplementary sixth volume which he compiled with W. W. Fowler to the latter's Coleoptera of the British Isles, 1913; chapter on entomology in Grant Duff, Life and Work of Lord Avebury, 1924; British Ants their Life-History and Classification, 1915, second edition 1927; Guests of British Ants, 1927; An Annotated List of the Additions to the British Coleopterous Fauna, 1931; and A Preliminary List of the Coleoptera of Windsor Forest, 1939, dedicated to the memory of Florence Jane Kirk, for long his constant companion on collecting trips.

Donisthorpe showed no reluctance to determine specimens both as new to Britain and new to science. Some of his contemporaries considered that he was overly enthusiastic in this respect. K.G. Blair in his obituary in EMM, 87, 1951, p.215, wrote: 'While there is no doubt that 'Donnie' as he was known to his friends, had an unusually keen eye for a new species, about 30 having been described by him on the British list, not to mention numerous new varieties of already known species and known continental species first discovered in Britain by him, his zeal sometimes led him into indiscretion and some few of his new species will have to be abandoned as insufficiently distinct...' Blair's concern has been born out by modern research so that today only six of Donisthorpe's new species remain in our list: Cercyon aguatilis, 1932; Leptacinus intermedius, 1936; Ilyobates bennetti, 1914; Micrambe aubrooki, 1939; Gymnetron lloydi, 1929; and Xyleborus sampsoni, 1940. The suppression of 24 of Donisthorpe's species is unfortunate if for no other reason than that 12 of them commemorated other well known Coleopterists including Miss Kirk.

One of Donisthorpe's foibles was that he would not permit specimens collected by others in his collection. R.W. Lloyd wrote to the EMM, 87, 1951, p.215 about this as follows: 'Mr Donisthorpe was a very fine Coleopterist, but he had that curious 'kink' shared by one or two other people, that he would only put in his collection beetles he had taken with his own hands. Luckily for him he was a man of leisure and he was able to go about the country when he heard of any rare beetles being taken. It led, however, to some curious results, as on a celebrated occasion when a collector in the New Forest got a very rare beetle - Velleius I believe it was - and advised Mr Donisthorpe, who telegraphed him to put a tumbler over it on the ground and keep it there until he was able to go and collect it himself.'

Donisthorpe's work on ants, which led to his becoming an unofficial member of staff of the NHM where he studied foreign species in particular, involved him in setting up elaborate breeding cages. In these he was not only able to study the relationship of ants and beetles, which led to many important discoveries, but the cages were also used by Chapman and Frohawk to work out the life cycle of the large blue butterfly Maculinea arion L.

Donisthorpe made more than one hundred gifts of insects to the NHM between 1889, when he presented 400 beetles collected in Germany, and his death. Several of these gifts were of material collected by other Coleopterists and several included larvae, etc.. His main British collection of Coleoptera amounting to 22,084 specimens was presented in 1934 (1934.4). It was originally preserved in a 40 drawer cabinet but has now been amalgamated into the general collection. The collection included more than 100 types. This gift also included a spirit collection of larvae, etc., microscope preparations, books, and 63 volumes of separates.

Donisthorpe also made numerous gifts to the HDO between 1899 and 1924, and in 1927 a Windsor collection to which he continued to add specimens until 1943. In connection with this collection K.G. Blair noted: 'after the completion of his own series of six the next specimen was always reserved for the Hope Department'. This collection is maintained separately. The Hope Department also houses Donisthorpe's MS Windsor notes in 4 volumes; annotated copies of his and Beare's 1904 Catalogue, and Beare's A Catalogue of the Recorded Coleoptera of the British Isles, 1930; an interleaved copy of his Windsor Preliminary List, 1939; and a copy of the photograph in the front of the same publication in a carved oak frame. Smith (1986) p.115 also records that Donisthorpe sold his collection of ants and associated insects to the HDO in 1927 for £IOO but that he retained it temporarily and eventually resold it to the NHM in 1933 refunding all costs incurred to the HDO.

I have also seen beetles collected by Donisthorpe at Manchester in the general collection, in the Kauffmnn collection of Cerambycidae and in Colin Johnson's collection of weevils, and in the RSM in the May collection. The Manchester Museum also has some MS and other material relating to Donisthorpe including a small notebook of 87 pages with an index of species and lists of localities, the first page being stamped 'Bibliotheca H. Donisthorpe', and a volume listing the people to whom he sent reprints after 1932.

The main collection of Donisthorpe's MS material is in the NHM and includes: five volumes titled Journal of British Coleoptera captured by H. Donisthorpe, being A list of the British Coleoptera taken by me and in my collection with dates, localities and notes on how captured, arranged in the form of a journal, 1879-1883, 1902-1914, 1915-1930, 1930-1938, 1938-1940; a notebook listing the Coleoptera and Hymenoptera duplicates including the names of people to whom specimens were given; a notebook listing the Coleoptera of Cambridgeshire; an annotated copy of Catalogue of British Coleoptera, 1904; and a correspondence collection of 200 items covering the period from 1900-1948 which includes letters from A.A. Allen, T.H. Beare, and J.H. Keys. (For full list see Harvey et al. (1996), pp. 61-62.

Donisthorpe was a member of the editorial panel of the ERJV from 1897; FRES from 1891 (Vice President 1911, Council on three occasions, Special Life Fellow); a Corresponding Member of the Dutch Entomological Society from 1931; and a member of the Entomological Club of which he became senior member and Secretary.

Apart from the notices mentioned above Gilbert (1977) p.95, lists: Ent. Ber., Amst., 13, 1951, p. 317 (by P. Van de Wiel); Proc. RESL, C, 16, 1952, p.84 (by N.D. Riley) and J. Soc. Brit. Ent., 4, 1951, pp. 23-24 (by R.B. Benson). A photograph of Donisthorpe with Florence Kirk and members of the Crown Estate Office at Windsor, taken from the original at Oxford, is included in his Windsor list. (MD 6/02)

DONNAN, W.D.

Referred to by Johnson & Halbert (1902), p.543. (MD 6/02)

DONOVAN, Charles (1863 - 29 October 1951)

Made his name as a Lepidopterist in India where he was born. His first article, however, was 'Dytiscus marginalis found in salt water' in EMM, 22, 1885, p.13. (MD 6/02)

DONOVAN, Edward (1768 - 1 February 1837)

Little is known of Donovan's early life. He appears to have inherited a considerable fortune and to have become interested in natural history in his teens. After 1800 he made several journeys through Monmouthshire and S. Wales of which he published a very useful account in 1805 illustrated with his own drawings. By 1807 his collections of natural history objects on which he had spent many thousands of pounds were such that he was able to open them to the public as the London Museum and Institution of Natural History. This institution remained open for many years and catalogues exist. It is for his publications, however, that Donavan is now best known. Between 1799 and 1820 he published 23 volumes of British birds, fishes, quadrupeds and shells, and 13 volumes of insects. The latter comprised The Natural History of British Insects, from 1793, in ten volumes, and General Illustrations of Entomology, 1798-1805, in three volumes. The last, which was dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks and includes some of Donovan's finest plates, is perhaps his best known work. It is subtitled Part 1. An Epitome of the Insects of Asia, elucidated in one hundred and fifty plates; with occasional observations, and descriptions after the Linnaean and Fabrician manner which suggests that the he orginally intended to produce further parts. The first volume includes the insects of China, the second those of India, and the third those of New Hollanbd, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other islands in the Indian, Southern and Pacfioc Oceans. J.O. Westwood subsequently edited and brought the work up to date as the Natural History of the Insects of China..., in 1842. Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Objects of Natural History, which Donovan first published in 1794, included A Treatise on the Management of Insects in their Several states, and appeared again as a second edition in 1805 with a new title page and reprinted Preface.

The Natural History of British Insects; explaining them in their several states, with periods of their transformations…Together with the history of such minute insects, as require investigation by the microscope. The whole illustrated by coloured figures... is the most important of his books from the British Coleopterous fauna. The work which had a complicated publishing history was begun in 1792. The first volume was reissued several times and the second volume once, which suggests that the demand for copies grew rapidly. It was not finally finished until 1813.

Donovan's publishing actvities exhausted his funds and in 1833 he published a piteous memorial To the patrons of science, literature and the fine arts respecting his losses at the hands of publishers and booksellers who, he claimed, not only retained most of his literary property, estimated at £60-70,000, but had also delayed paying him by as long as six years. In this work he states that he started publishing in 1783 and during the course of fifty years a complete set of his works would cost £100.

Not all Donovan's books were received favourably. Swainson, for example, criticised his text as being 'verbose and not above mediocrity' and his plates as being 'gaudy and the drawings generally unnatural'. These remarks, however, appear to apply more to his animal and bird books than to those on insects.

Donovan knew Dru Drury and prepared the sale catalogue of his collection from 4 notebooks which are now in the HDO. Smith (1986), p. 75, notes that these were given to Donovan as he declined payment for his work. Many of Drury's insects passed on his death to Donovan. The HDO also houses a considerable amount of other material relating to Donovan including letters, drawings, prints, and dissected copies of his own publications. Included in this collection Smith lists a MS: 'Coleopterous insects named in Marsham's cabinet - now in my possession'.

Donovan's collection of Coleoptera was presumably included in the sale of his London Museum and Institute of Natural History which Chalmers-Hunt (1976) notes was sold by King and Lochee between April 30 and May 2, 4-8, 1818 in 878 lots; certainly the sale catalogue mentions insects. Interestingly the sale took place at the same time as Bullock sold the contents of his London Museum of Natural History. Many of the type specimens were acquired by J. Francillon and subsequently passed to the NHM. Some idea of the price which Donovan himself was prepared to pay for specimens can be gathered from the fact that Chalmers-Hunt (1976) notes that he expended £3 3s on a single specimen of Cetonia hamata at the sale of the Leverian museum in 1806. (MD 6/02)

DORMER, John Baptiste Joseph, 12th Baron (22 May 1830 - 22 December 1900)

Lived at Grove Park in Warwickshire. Made his career in the army and saw active service in the Crimea and India. His obituary in EMM, 37, 1901, p. 49, states that he 'had a strong taste for entomology and formed a collection of Cicindelidae... outside this speciality his captures were given to friends'. Dormer was of a retiring disposition and was known to only a few, but these friends did include H.W. Bates who received specimens from him. Dormer also presented specimens to the NHM in 1892 (92.78. 33 specimens from India, Ceylon and Japan) and 1893 (93.72. 12 specimens from India).

Chalmers-Hunt (1976), p. 137, records that Dormer's collection of Cicindelidae was sold by Stevens on 16 July 1901.

FES from 1886 (he is recorded to have attended meeetings 'occasionally'; FZS from 1882. (MD 6/02)

DOSSETOR, T.P.

Listed in Ent. Ann. in 1856 and 1857 as interested in British Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. His address is given as 13 Poultry, London. He made three gifts of insects to the NHM between 1851 and 1863 (51.146, 54.56, 63.17). Janson's MS diary at Cambridge records 'No 722 Dossetor coll. 4 June 1868 sale' but there is no reference to a sale in Chalmers-Hunt (1976). (MD 6/02)

Mick Cooper informs me that there is further information about Dossetor in Nottingham Museum. (MD 10/03)

DOUBLEDAY, Edward (4 October 1810 - 14 Decenber 1849)

Well known Lepidopterist who is not recorded to have had an interest in beetles. However, he did give 862 Coleoptera, including foreign specimens, and a number of other insects to the NHM on 14 January 1840. It is not clear whether he collected these himself. (MD 9/02)

DOUBLEDAY, Henry (29 June 1809 - 29 June 1875)

Brother of Edward above and another well known Lepidopterist who is not recorded to have had an interest in beetles. However, he is mentioned by Stephens, 1829, pp.103,125, and he published 'Clytus erythrocephalus in England' in EMM, 9, 1873, p.268, on the basis of specimens found in his Epping garden but which he assumed had been imported in skins, and which he subsequently gave to John Curtis. (MD 9/02)

DOUGHTY, Chester Goodwin (26 January 1870 - 24 January 1939)

Third son of Reverend Ernest George Doughty, rector of Martlesham, and of Mary Francis Christie of the Manor House, Framingham Pigot, Norfolk. Cousin of Doughty of Arabia Deserta fame. Educated at Crespigny House school, Aldeburgh; Bradfield College, Berkshire; and between 1888 and 1891 at Pembroke College, Cambridge where he took degrees in law. Became articled to a firm of solicitors at Plymouth and subsequently moved to another firm in London, before, on the death of his father in 1915, giving up the law and moving to Gorleston where he remained for the rest of his life.

Doughty had an extensive interest in natural history fostered particularly through the Suffolk Naturalists Society of which he became an active participant after its foundation in 1929. Although he had published little up to this time, his longest article being on 'The loves of the weevils', (Ent., 1910, p. 212, he then proceeded to contribute material on a great diversity of subjects to every part of the Transactions.

According to the writer of his obituary in Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. Proc., 1939 (4), pp. xc-xcii, his interest in Coleoptera began in 1899, and was quickly followed by Lepidoptera in the following year. Both were pursued in parallel with botany, zoology, conchology and fossils. He was particularly knowledgeable about the local coast, and travelled extensively throughout the British Isles. His only foreign trips are recorded to have been to Italy in 1909 and to Switzerland in 1916.

Doughty's collections were split up after his death. The Coleoptera passed to the Ipswich Museum where the collection is housed in 30 storeboxes, most specimens having attached data. (I am very grateful to Howard Mendel for supplying me with information about Doughty). (MD 9/02)

DOUGLAS, E.D.R.

Published 'Creophilus maxillosus v. ciliaris Steph. in Ireland' in EMM, 27, 1891, p.305. (MD 9/02)

DOUGLAS, H.E.M.

Gave 34 Coleoptera which he had collected as a member of the Clark Expedition to North and West China to the NHM in 1910 (1910.332).

Douglas received various awards for bravery including the VC. (MD 9/02)

DOUGLAS, John William (15 November 1814 - 28 August 1905)

Born in Putney the son of David Douglas of Tranent near Edinburgh. Educated at a private school where he received a serious injury to his leg as the result of a practical joke. During the two years convalescence which followed he took up botanical draughtsmanship and, when he regained his health, he joined the staff at Kew Gardens to pursue this interest further. After a few years, however, he left Kew to join the staff at the Customs House where he remained for the next fifty years, reaching a senior position and being personally thanked by Gladstone for his work on the importation of Continental wines. He married in 1843, living first at Camberwell and subsequently at Lee and Lewisham. He died at Harlesden.

Douglas's interest in insects began when he was at Kew, and his first article 'Random Thoughts on Entomology' was published in Ent. Mag., 4, 1837, pp. 340-342 and 5, 1837, pp. 62-65. Although much of his work was on the Lepidoptera (the genus Douglasia was named after him by Stainton), Coccidae, and Hemiptera on which he published his best known work with John Scott The British Hemiptera, vol 1, Hemiptera-Heteroptera, 1865, he also wrote on beetles. His best known articles are probably those on the food and habits of Velleius diltatus in hornet's nests' in EMM, 15, 1879, p. 260, 'Anisoxya fuscula at Lee', ibid., 12, 1876, p. 83; and his article on the Colorado beetle, ibid., 13, 1877, p.181. He also published articles in EWI including one on myrmecophilous beetles (80, 1858, p. 16). 'A Proposal for a new catalogue of British Coleoptera', appeared in Zoo., 6, 1858, pp. 5899-6001. He was also the author of The World of Insects, 1856.

In the Ent. Ann., 1865, Douglas states that he was 'at home to entomologists every Friday evening after half past six PM from November to March inclusive'.

On Douglas's collections of Hemiptera see a forthcoming article by Mick Webb. Douglas gave a weevil to NHM in 1843 (43.26) and a further five beetles in 1846 (46.94). A copy of a letter from Janson in the J.W. Ellis collection at Liverpool Museum implies that P.B.Mason acquired the 'entire' Coleoptera collection of Douglas, but if this was the case it is not mentioned by Hancock & Pettit (1981) as among the Bolton material. Harvey et al. (1996) record that there are three MS notebooks in the NHM listing captures covering the periods 1848-52, 1853-56 and 1855-96, and a MS leaf listing his insect collection.

Douglas became an editor of the EMM in 1874. FESL from 1845-1862, 1876-1905 (Council 1846, Secretary 1849-56, President 1861).

There are obituaries in EMM, 41, 1905, pp. 221-222, 262 (by E. Saunders); ibid., 42, 1906, p. 16 (by C.W. Dale); and in ERJV, 17, 1905, pp. 246-248. (MD 9/02)

DOUGLAS, W.D.R.

Mentioned by Johnson & Halbert (1902) p.543. (MD 9/02)

DOUGLAS-FOX, J.

Chalmers-Hunt (1976) p. 139 records that a collection of British Coleoptera bearing this name was sold at Stevens auction rooms on 29 July 1902. (MD 9/02)

DOUGLASS, G.N.

Gave 17 Coleoptera which he had collected in S Italy to the NHM in 1891 (91-66) and a further 24 beetles from the Cyclades in the following year (92.65). (MD 9/02)

DOUGLASS, Martin

Gave 21 Coleoptera which he had collected on the isle of Elephanta, E Africa, c. 1880 to Sunderland Museum on 21 March 1882. Other material labelled 'Earl of Durham' in this museum may also have been collected by him. (MD 9/02)

DOWDING, C.C.

Thanked by G.E. Bodkin 'Notes on the Coleoptera of British Guiana' EMM, 55, 1919, p. 210. Perhaps this is the Captain Dowding who gave 6 Coleoptera from Ecuador to the NHM in 1893 (93.71). (MD 9/02)

DOWELL, Clarence

Gave 23 Coleoptera from Queensland to the NHM in 1903 (1903.243). (MD 9/02)

DOWLER

A Doctor who lived in Richmond. Gave a collection of insects including 789 beetles to the NHM in October 1843 (43.57). A note in the Accessions volume states 'These were collected by Dr Dowler himself the localities are indicated by the heads of the pins: 'without wax' - Polish Ukraine; 'black wax' - Odessa; 'dark green wax' - Tyrol; 'yellow wax' - Switzerland; 'orange wax' - Italy; 'light blue wax' - England'. (MD 9/02)

DOWNES

A Captain. Fowler and Arrow in their FBI volumes, 1912 and 1917, note that he collected Paussidae and Rutelinae at Bombay. Could this be the 'Commander Downes' after whom W. Hope named Lucanus downesii perhaps ('Characters and Descriptions of several New Genera and Species of Coleopterous Insects', Trans. ZSL, 1, 1833, p. 99)? The same paper also refers to Captain Downes as the author of Prionus hayesii in a MSS (104), which at that time was the largest beetle known. (MD 9/02)

DOWNES, E.

A Doctor. Gave a species of Tillus to the NHM through S. Baly in 1861 (61.15) and a further 15 beetles from Bombay in the following year (62.46). (MD 9/02)

DOWNES, J.A.

Published three articles on insects in Trans. SLENHS between 1934 and 1936. By 1945 he seems to have been attached to the Zoology Department of the University of Glasgow for he is recorded to have collected 73 Coleoptera 'some of which may be co-types' on Christmas island which the Department gave to the NHM (1946.93). This is presumably the same Downes who collected the 36 Coleoptera 'including 11 types from the Bishop Coll' which the Department gave to the Museum in the preceding year (1945.98). (MD 9/02)

DOWNING, A.K.W.

See WELD-DOWNING, A.K.

DOWSETT, A.

Mentioned in O.Janson's MS diary in the Cambridge Museum in May 1875. (MD 9/02)

DRAKE, P.C.

Gave a collection of insects including 15 Coleoptera made in Lapland as a member of the Senior Public Schools Expedition to NHM in 1936 (1936.770). (MD 9/02)

DRAKE-BROCKMAN, R.E.

Gave 80 Coleoptera from British Somaliland to the NHM between 1908-11 (1908.176 and 1911.172). (MD 9/02)

DRAPER, Walter

Gave 31 Coleoptera from Egypt to the NHM in 1904-05 (1904.241 and 1905.151). (MD 9/02)

DRESCHER, F.C.

Gave 108 Coleoptera and other insects collected in Java to the NHM in 1934-37 (1934.264, 1937.662). (MD 9/02)

DREWETT

Gave 6 Coleaptera which he had collected in Egypt to the NHM in 1891 (91.24). His address is recorded as the Savile Club, Piccadilly. (MD 9/02)

DRING

Sold 96 Coleoptera and other insects to the NHM in 1844 for £6 10s (44.14). (MD 9/02)

DRUCE, Herbert (14 July 1846 - 11 April 1913)

Well known Lepidopterist. During the course of his collecting, particularly in Central America he also took Coleoptera. The NHM acquired 42 specimens from Panama which he had collected by purchase from Janson in April 1871 (71.12), and Smith (1986) p.116, records that a bottle of Lepidopterous and Coleopterous larvae which he took at Chiriqui was acquired by the HDO in 1886. It is possible that Coleoptera may also be included in the collection of insects from Borneo acquired by the HDO in 1899. (MD 9/02)

DRUMMOND

Mentioned by J. Stephens (1828-1831), 1, p. 113. to whom Drummond gave several specimens of Omaseus aterrimus Fab. from near Cork in Ireland. (MD 9/02)

DRUMMOND, David Classon

Published a number of notes on Chrysomelidae between 1952-58 including 'Records of some Chrysomelidae and their food plants', EMM, 88, 1952, p.19; on a parasite of Chrysolina graminius L., ibid., p.46; 'Food plants of Chrysolina species', ibid., 92, 1956, p. 368; and 'Records of some species of Oreina and their food plants in Pyrnenees Orientales', ibid., 94, 1958, p.203.

FRES 1950-1971. (MD 3/03)

DRUMMOND, J.P.G.

A Major. Presented several hundred insects from India and elsewhere to the NHM in 1925 including 7 beetles (1925.543). (MD 9/02)

DRURY, B.

Served in the Navy. Gave 36 beetles which he had collected from the Upper Nile, Egypt, to the NHM in 1903 (1903.70a). (MD 9/02)

DRURY, Dru (4 February 1725 - 15 January 1804)

Born in Wood Lane, London, the son of Dru Drury (b.1688), a silversmith, and his wife Mary, nee Hesketh. Seven other children all died young. Assisted his father in the business and took it over himself on 7 June 1748. It was at this time that he married Esther Pedley, a daughter of his father's first wife by her former husband, and in doing so acquired several freehold properties in London and Essex which brought him an annual income of between £250-300. In 1771 he purchased a silversmith's stock and shop at 32 Strand. Here he made £2,000 per annum for several years, but failed, apparently through no fault of his own, in 1777. He behaved honourably towards his creditors, however, and with their assistance and the support of the Queen, he described himself as 'Goldsmith to the Queen' at this time, he was able to recommence business shortly after. He had seventeen children before his wife died in 1787, but only three, Mary (b.1749), William (b.1752), and Dru (b. 1767) succeeded him.

Drury had long been interested in entomology and in 1789 he retired from silversmithing in order to devote more time both to this and to his other interests of gardening, angling and wine making. During this period he is also recorded to have speculated in the search for gold, engaging many travellers including Lewin, in his projects, most of which failed. At length he removed to Turnham Green where he died. He is buried in St. Martins in the Fields.

Drury was one of the best known British entomologists of his day. He corresponded amongst others with Pallas, Haworth, Linnaeus, Kirby and Fabricius, and the last three held him in high enough esteem to name insects after him. T.D.A. Cockerell, whose father was sufficiently friendly with Drury's great grandson to name his own son Dru after him, discovered a volume of Drury's letter copies in the possession of the family at Funchal, Madeira, extracts from which he published in The Scientific Monthly, January 1922, pp. 67-82. (This volume is now in the NHM). These reveal that Drury was not only indefatigable in seeking to enlarge his collection but also tried hard to persuade his correspondents to study insects and their life histories and to record their findings. They also contain various references to beetles and to entomological practices of the time, e.g.:

4 January 1762 to Robert Killingley in Antigua: 'The Beetles which were in ye spirits among the other things were very acceptable and exceeding pretty, insomuch that I cannot help placing them in ye foremost rank of all the specimens you have now sent, indeed insects I must confess do really afford me the greatest pleasure of all animals...'.

13 May 1767 to Mr Devereux Jarratt in Virginia: 'in my letter of July 12th I described ye method of killing of insects by dipping a needle in Aqua Fortis and sticking it into them, but I cannot neglect ye present opportunity of informing you that all that trouble may be saved and the insects may easily be killed by sticking them on ye end of a piece of board and holding them to ye fire...'.

19 July 1770 to Mr Storm, Principal Gardener to the Hortus Medicus in Amsterdam: 'In England we are very fond of other insects besides Butterflies and Moths, and a small Beetle sometimes is more acceptable than a large butterfly'.

Apart from his activities as a collector Drury also wrote an important book on entomology: Illustrations of Natural History, wherein are exhibited upwards of 240 figures of Exotic Insects, 3 vols, 1770-1782, subsequently revised by J.O. Westwood as Illustrations of Exotic Entomology containing upwards of six hundred and fifty figures and descriptions of Foreign Insects, 1837. Drury also published a three page pamphlet: Directions for Collecting Insects in Foreign Countries, c.1800, which he sent all over the world and which was translated into several different languages. The plates in the Illustrations were drawn and coloured by Moses Harris.

Drury's collections including more than 11,000 insects were sold by King and Lochee between 23-25 may 1805 in 305 lots with 38 lots of bookcases, books, equipment, etc.. The catalogue, prepared by Edward Donovan (see above) was titled 'Superb collection of insects, elegant cabinets... A Catalogue of the most capital assemblage of insects probably ever offered for public sale'. The Coleoptera seem to have accounted for a little under a quarter of the total, for Westwood notes that in 1788 when Drury had acquired 9,578 specimens representing 8,370 species, 2136 were beetles. C.M.F. von Hayek 'On the type material of the species of Coleoptera described from the Drury Collection by D. Drury and J.C. Fabricius with notes on some Coleoptera from the Milne collection preserved in the British Museum (Natural History)' in Archives of Natural History, 12, 1958, pp. 143-52 provides more information about the sale and the present whereabouts of the specimens included. She lists 3 species of Coleoptera named by Drury based on specimens in the collection of J. Fothergill; 56 species named by Drury from specimens in his own collection, and a further 44 named by Fabricius in his Systema Entomlogiae, 1775, also based on material in Drury's collection. A 20 drawer cabinet associated with Drury is preserved in the Dorset County Museum at Dorchester, but this does not include beetles and none of the specimens appears to have any data attached. Smith (1986) records another cabinet in the HDO.

Apart from the letter book mentioned above, the NHM also has two small paper covered notebooks numbered 27 and 28 which belonged to Drury. Von Hayek records that they contain all manner of notes 'from instructions on how to paper the drawers of his cabinets, his state of health ... records of the sale of his books, to the condition of his home made wine'. The last entry is dated 3 December 1803. Harvey et al (1996) list two diaries covering the period July 1794-April 1796 and 1801-1805 but it is not clear whether these are the two volumes referred to by Von Hayek. They also list a number of other items including a genealogical table of the Drury family c.1800, a volume of miscellaneous papers including a correspondence collection. A second volume containing copies of letters 1761-1783 is also in the Museum. The letters are listed in full by C.D. Sherborn in Journal SBNH 1(4), 1937, pp. 109-111.

Smith (1986) records four notebooks of exotic insects in Drury's collection in the HDO, an advertisement of a sale in May 1788 and a sale catalogue May 1805.

Drury was President of the Society of Entomologists of London 1780-82.

The main works on Drury apart from those mentioned above are C.H. Smith, 'Memoir of Dru Drury, with a portrait' in The Naturalist's Library; DNB; and H.B. Weiss, 'Dru Drury, Silversmith and Entomlogist of the Eighteenth Century' in Ent. News, 38, 1927, pp. 208-214. (MD 9/02)

DRY, F.W.

Collected insects including Coleoptera for the Imperial Bureau of Entomology in Kenya which were given to the NHM in 1928 (1928.170). (MD 9/02)

DUBOIS, C.

Subscribed to a copy of Denny (1825). He lived in London and was FLS. Possibly a relative of Charles Dubois (1656-1740) the botanist and horticulturalist who also had an interest in entomology. (MD 9/02)

DUDGEON, G.C.

A C.B.E.. Collected Coleoptera and other insects, particularly Lepidoptera in India and Africa on which he published several notes in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. and India Museum Notes. He is mentioned by Arrow and Fowler in their respective FBI volumes.

Dudgeon gave a number of gifts of Coleoptera to the NHM between 1894 and 1909 (94.89: 20 specimens from Sikkim; 96.233: 3 specimens from Sikkim; 1900.237: 3 specimens from the Kayra Valley; 1901.109: 1 specimn from the Kayra Valley; and 1910.28: 50 Bruchus from N. Nigeria).

Chalmers Hunt (1976) p.124 lists a collection of insects including Coleoptera and exotic Coleoptera which was sold by Dr Dudgeon at Stevens rooms on 26 January 1891 but it is not clear whether this is G.C. or R.E. Dudgeon (see below).

FES 1894-1930. (MD 9/02)

DUDGEON, R.E.

Published 'Monstrosity of a Bembidium littorale' in EWI, 3, 1857, p. 54 and 'How to kill beetles', ibid., pp. 54-55. He lived in London. Perhaps this is the Dudgeon whose collection was sold by Stevens in 1891 (see above). (MD 9/02)

DUDLEY, Matthew

Published 'An account of insects in the barks of decaying elms and ashes' in Phil. Trans., 24, pp. 1705, 1859-1863. (MD 9/02)

DUFF, E. Grant

Gave 11 Coleoptera from Persia to the NHM in 1906 (1906.306). He was attached to the British Legation in Tehran. (MD 9/02)

DUFFIELD, Charles Alban William (1886 - December 1974)

Educated at Cambridge University and subsequently at Wye College where he studied economic entomology and then worked under Theobald on aphids and frog hoppers. When Theobald died Duffield became entomological adviser to the Cooper Technical Bureau. In 1935 he inherited sufficient funds to enable him to retire and purchase land around his house at Ashford, Kent. Some of this land was subsequently acquired by the Nature Conservancy Council and now forms part of the Wye and Crundale Down National Nature Reserve.

Duffield's particular interest was in the conservation of rare insects and plants in his own area of Kent. He published three notes on Coleoptera in the EMM: 'A note on Liparius germanus L.' (57, 1921, pp. 142-43); Anthonomus cinctus Kollar in Kent' (58, 1922, p.37); and 'Odontaeus armiger Scop. in Kent' (61, 1925, p. 225).

Duffield's collections were placed on loan in the Maidstone Museum after his death.

FRES 1913-40, 1947-1974. BENHS member from 1949.

There are obituaries in ERJV, 87, 1975, pp. 127-28 (by C.G.M. Worms); Proc. BENHS, 8, 1975, p. 60 (by C. McKechnie-Jarvis) and Proc. RESL, (C) 39, 1975, p.55 (by A.D. Lees). (MD 9/02)

DUFFIELD, J.E.

Smith (1986) records 680 insects of all orders from south-western United States (1932) and 114 insects from Suez and Port Tewfik, Egypt, Colombo, Ceylon and at sea in the HDO.

DUFFY, Evelyn A. J. (d. c.1986)

Best known for the important series of Monographs on the Immature Stages of Timber Beetles which he wrote while on the staff of the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology. These volumes comprised: British and Imported, 1953; American, 1957; African, 1957; Supplement to African, 1980; Neotropical, 1960; Australian, 1963; and Oriental, 1968.

Before devoting the major part of his time to this work Duffy wrote a number of articles on the British fauna including 'The Coleopterous fauna of the Hants. Surrey border', EMM., 81, 1945, pp. 169-179; 'Notes on the British species of Pyrochroa with a key to their first stage larvae', ibid., 82, 1946, pp. 92-93; and 'Records of Coleopterous larvae from Surrey with a note on host-plants', ibid., pp. 270-273. He also wrote the RES Handbooks on Cerambycidae, 1952, and Scolytidae and Platypodidae, 1953. Earlier he had written a leaflet for the AES on making a garden pond (1945).

Duffy made numerous gifts to the NHM from 1939 of larvae in particular collected both by himself and others. Two of the largest gifts were of 1015 larvae collected in Surrey and Hants in 1944-49 (1950.148) and of 1215 larvae and pupae from England generally (1951.192). Other specimens collected by him are to be found in the Kauffmann Collection at Manchester and in the general collection at Birmingham.

I have not been able to trace any obituary notice. (MD 9/02)

DUGGAN, Harry L.

Sold 6 Coleoptera to the NHM in 1894 including 4 specimens of Goliathus giganteus from the Mouth of the Loango, West Africa (94.104 and 94.136). (MD 9/02)

DUMBRELL, Roger D.

Lived at Milton Street, Susex. Dumbrell collected in the period 1960-1975, sometimes in company with Peter Hodge and Richard Jones, and built up a good collection of Sussex material supported with collecting diaries. (I am grateful to Peter Hodge for this information). (MD 9/02)

DUN, G.S.

Worked for the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology in the 1950s. Gave 5 weevils which he had collected in New Guinea to the NHM in 1951 (1951.139) and 10 Coleoptera from Keravat in the same year (1951.493). (MD 9/02)

DUNBAR, Mrs J.L. DUFF

Made three gifts of Coleoptera to the NHM between 1880-85: 3 from Scotland (80.38); 27 Gyrinus minutus from Dhu Lock, Wick (81.18); and 1 from the Island of Elephantina (85.31). The last is recorded as 'collected by herself'. She lived at Ackersgill Tower, Wick, Scotland. (MD 9/02)

DUNCAN, James

Very little biographical information about Duncan appears to have been published and no obituary notices are recorded. He is chiefly remembered for the entomological volumes he wrote for W. Jardine's Naturalists Library including the volume on Beetles, first published in 1835, and subsequently re-issued under the title Beetles British and Foreign containing a full description of the more important varieties (no date but probably 1880s). Apart from these works the only other publications on Coleoptera by him to which I have seen references are: 'Catalogue of the Coleopterous insects found in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh', in Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, 6, 1832, pp. 443-538, and Entomologia Edinensis, 1834, written with James Wilson. The former increased the Edinburgh list published by Charles Stewart in 1809, which included a little over 100 species, to 545, and the latter increased this further to 640. In the Introduction to the Entomologia Edinensis, Duncan and Wilson state that they had recorded from Scotland, as opposed to the Edinburgh district, nearly one half of the 3298 species listed by Stevens in his Systematic Catalogue, 1829. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that when Andrew Murray came to write his Catalogue of the Coleoptera of Scotland, 1853, he makes no mention at all of Duncan in an extensive list of acknowledgments. (MD 9/02)

DUNCAN, J.N.

Gave 94 Coleoptera which he had collected in China to the NHM in four batches between 1932-34 (1932.405, 15 specimens; 1933.125, 5 specimens; 1934.278, 35 specimens; 1934.454, 38 specimens) (MD 9/02)

DUNCAN, John P.

Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1856, as interested in British Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. His address is given as Monkton, Ayrshire. (MD 9/02)

DUNCAN, Robert Dick

Published a 'Note on the occurrence of the glow worm in Scotland' in Zoo., 2, 1844, p.612. (MD 9/02)

DUNLOP, A.A.

Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1860, as interested in British and East Indian insects of all orders. His address is given as 95 Lower Bagot Street, Dublin. (MD 9/02)

DUNLOP, Gavin Alfred (1868 - 3 April 1933)

Born in Nottingham of Scottish parents and educated at Govan. He intended to go to Glasgow University but was prevented and took up coach-building during the day while studying the natural sciences in the evening. The knowledge he gained in this way eventually enabled him to give up coach-building and obtain a post in the Museum at Keighly. Subsequently he transferred to Warrington Museum where he remained for the rest of his career. For much of his life Dunlop was handicapped by both lameness and deafness.

Dunlop was particularly interested in field work and in marinezoology. He was an active member of the Warrington Field Club and of the Warrington Literary and Philosophical Society and contributed many papers to the journals of both societies. His entomological work covered a wide range and led him to compile the regular entomological reports in the journal of the Field Club. His best known work in this field is perhaps his list of the Aculeate Hymenoptera of the Warrington district. He also published 'A note on some inhabitants of a badger's nest' which included beetles, in EMM, 46, 1910, pp. 15-16, and he is mentioned by W.E. Sharp, The Coleoptera of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1908, p.15.

Many beetles collected by Dunlop are in the general collection at Doncaster Museum (I am grateful to Peter Skidmore for this information).

Dunlop was an ardent supporter of the North Western Naturalists Union. There is an obituary with a portrait in North Western Naturalist, 8, 1933, pp. 142-145, 163. (MD 9/02)

DUNNING, Joseph William (5 November 1833 - 15 October 1897)

General entomologist whose main work was on the Lepidoptera but who also published one or two notes on Xylotrechus and 'Cetonia aurata emerging in April', Trans.ESL., 1869, p.xi.

Dunning was responsible for the ESL gaining its charter and gave very generously of his time and funds to this institution of which he was President 1883-84.

Gilbert (1977) lists 6 obituaries and other notices. (MD 9/02)

DUPRE, Charles C.

C.W. Waterhouse's Localities volume in the RSM mentions that he collected with Dupre. Dupre's collection is now in Bolton Museum as part of the Mason collection (identifiable by small white labels). Hancock & Pettitt (1981) record that it includes some 3,000 specimens collected mainly in the South East in the period 1871-78, together with a MS Register of Coleoptera, with code numbers, which enables specimens from other collectors to be identified. About 500 specimens from J. Scott, G.R. Crotch, R. Lawson, Power and Janson are included.

Dupre lived at 35A Russell Road, Kensington, London. (MD 9/02)

DUR(R?)AND, J.L.E.

Listed in the Ent. Ann. in 1857 and 1860 as interested in British and French Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. His address is given as Postern Street, Nottingham. (MD 9/02)

D'URBAN, W.S.M.

Listed in the Ent. Ann. in 1856 as interested in British Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. His address is given as Newport, near Exeter. By 1857 he had moved to Canada, and in 1859 he presented 243 Canadian Coleoptera to the NHM (59.124). (MD 9/02)

DURHAM, H.E.

Worked at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Gave 67 Coleoptera from Para, Brazil to the NHM in 1901 (1901.323). (MD 9/02)

DURHAM, Earl of

Gave 3000 insects to the Sunderland Art Gallery and Museum on 24 April 1907. Most without data. (MD 9/02)

DURRANT, John Hartley (10 January 1863 - 18 January 1928)

Well known Lepidopterist and authority on entomological nomenclature who was Lord Walsingham's private secretary and had charge of his collections. When Walsingham left his collection to the NHM he provided funds for Durrant to continue to look after it.

Durrant published two notes on species of 'Blaps from Hitchin' (Trans. ESL, 1884, Proc. p. xx; and EMM, 21, 1884, p. 112) and made several donations of Coleoptera to the NHM between 1885 and 1933: a Blaps from Hitchin (85.33); 73 specimens collected in Madagascar by Kingdon (1911.151); Odontaeus mobilicornis from Merton, Norfolk (1911.107). Others 1928-33. A further 1,205 Coleoptera and other insects chiefly collected in Hertfordshire and Norfolk were given to the Museum by his wife in 1928 (1928.99).

Gilbert (1977) lists eight obituaries of which the most important is probably that by N.D. Riley in Ent., 61, 1928, pp. 73-75 which includes a portrait. (MD 9/02)

DUTHIE, J.T.

Gave 50 Coleoptera from Bengal to the NHM in 1884 (84.37). (MD 9/02)

DUTT, G.R.

This name appears on Coleoptera in the collection of the Pusa Institute, Delhi. He is named by G.J. Arrow, FBI, Llamelicornia, as collecting Coleoptera at Chapra, Bengal. (MD 9/02)

DUTTON, James Fairclough (1859 - 15 December 1937)

Lived at Helsby and Prestatyn before moving to Llandudno a few days before his death. He was Managing Director of the Longford Wire Company. Dutton was particularly interested in the entomology of Lancashire and Cheshire, especially Delamere Forest. His capture of 12 specimens of Dryops (Parnus) nitidulus (Heer) on the sand hills at Birkdale, Southport, in July 1890 which he published in EMM, 39, 1903, p.152, was the first record of that species in this country. He also published 'Lathrobium rufipenne Gyll. and other Coleoptera at Delamere Forest', ibid., 46, 1910, pp.3435. He is mentioned by W.E. Sharp, The Coleoptera of Lancashire and Cheshire (1908) p.15.

A collection of Coleoptera made by Dutton mainly in N. Wales and Cheshire between 1909-26, was given to Warrington Museum in 1939 (9.39). It is kept separate and includes 2 drawers of Lepidoptera. Dutton also gave a number of Coleoptera to the NHM between 1898 and 1910 (98.44, 2 specimens of Coccinella heiroglyphica; 1907.75, 3 specimens from Stromness, Orkney Isles; and 1910.107, 2 specimens of Lathrobium rufipenne from Delamere Forest), and his wife presented four specimens of Lathridium nigripenne after his death (1938.192). Letters to W.E. Sharp are preserved in the Sharp volumes at Liverpool Museum, e.g. 2, 174.

Dutton was a member of the Warrington Field Club.

There are obituaries in Arb. Morph. Taxon. Ent. Berl., 5, 1938, p. 186 (three lines only) and EMM, 74, 1938, pp.66-67. (MD 9/02)

DYKE, F.M.

Gave 73 Coleoptera which he had collected in the Congo to the NHM in 1923 (1923.290). (MD 9/02)

DYKES, Joseph

Published 'A weevil which eats fruit trees' in J.C. Loudon's Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement, 6, 1830, p.501. (MD 9/02)

DYOTT, R.A.

A Major. Gave 43 large store boxes of foreign insects including Coleoptera to Birmingham on 30 September 1924 (listed in Natural History Department Accessions Book 18). His address is recorded as Freeford, Lichfield. (MD 9/02)

DYSON

Sold several hundred Coleoptera from Venezuela, Australia, etc. to the NHM between 1844 and 1848 (44.1: 61 specimens; 45.123, 186 specimens through Mr Cuming; 46.75, 105 specimens; 47.1, 100 specimens; 47.2, 8 specimens; 47.26, 7 specimens; 47.52, 131 specimens; 48.14, 14 specimens from Australia. (MD 9/02)

DYSON PERRINS

See PERRINS

Last updated: 01 December 2003