Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists

Michael Darby

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EADY, R.D.

Made many gifts of insects to the NHM including two of 93 Coleoptera each, collected in Palestine, the first with L. Rawsthorn (1945.2 and 1946.32). (MD 10/02)

EAGLES, T.R. (d. 1971)

General naturalist, botanist and entomologist with particular interests in Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. James (1973) records the important contribution which Eagles made to the BENHS which he joined in 1927 and of which he became an Honorary Member in 1959. His involvement with the Society included acting as Editor 1945-1955, and as Treasurer 1936-1944. It was to this Society that Eagles's collections of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, and his library, were given by his family after his death. He lived at 32 Abbey Road, Enfield. (MD 10/02)

EAMES, J. Henry

Collected 7 Coleoptera in the Gold Coast which he presented to the NHM in 1893 (1893.43). (MD 10/02)

EARLAND, A.

Published notes on the beetle mite Tegeocranus latus in Trans. Herts. nat. Hist. Soc., 15, 1913, pp.64-65. (MD 10/02)

EARLE

Sold 60 Coleoptera and 87 other insects from New Zealand to the NHM in 1845 (1845.30 and 1845.93). (MD 10/02)

EASTON, Alan E (1907 - 1989)

Attended Whitgift School, Croydon and the medical school at St. Thomas's Hosital where he was awarded the Send Entomological Scholarship in 1924. Settled in Great Bookham after qualifying and practised there for fifty two years. Appointed GP Consultant Surgeon, Leatherhead Hospital in 1940 and also worked as police surgeon for the Reigate and Dorking divisions.

In his police work Easton used beetles to try to determine the time of death of corpses which led to his publishing 'Lathrimaeum atrocephalum Gyll: a medico-legal problem' (EMM., 80, 1944, p.237) and, later, 'The Coleoptera of a dead fox including two species new to Britain [Acrotrichis cognata and A. arnoldi] (ibid., 102, 1966, pp.205-210). He came to realise, however, that dipterous larvae were even more helpful and subsequently worked on these with K.G.V. Smith who included the work in his A Manual of Forensic Entomology (1986).

As a Coleopterist Easton is best known for his pioneering work on Meligethes. His 44 papers on this genus began with 'A freakish specimen of Meligethes aeneus' (EMM., 82, 1946, 243) and ended in 1968. In between he published articles on the South-West Arabian fauna, 1954; the North African fauna, 1955; the fauna of Afghanistan, 1956; the Japanese fauna, 1957 and the Abyssinian fauna, 1959. His publications on British Meligethes included 'Meligethes erichsoni Brisout an addition to the British list' (EMM., 84, 1948, pp.11-12); 'Meligethes nanus Erichs. reaffirmed as a British species' (ibid., 87, 1951, pp.44-46) and 'Meligethes viridescens (Fab.) ab. nigrinus Everts. in Britain' (ibid., 90, 1945, p.251). He also carried out extensive breeding experiments to determine larval host plants and parasites, and armed with this information he contacted botanists throughout the British Isles and visited sites where these plants grew.

Easton's work on the British fauna was not confined to this genus alone, however. His additions to our list apart from the two Piliids mentioned above, included: Catopidius depressus (Murray), which he took on Box Hill (ibid., 77, 1941, p.18); Apion lemoroi Brisout, taken in Effingham (ibid., 82, 1946, 243); Acrotrichis rugulosa Rossk. (ibid., 104, 1968, p.3) and Atheta boletophila Thoms. (ibid., 1969, pp.197-198), taken in the Rothiemurchus Forest, Inverness; A. immigrans which he also took in Inverness, and its sub-genus Phyconoma, were new to science (ibid., 107, 1971, pp.24-26). He also carried out a number of general surveys such as 'The Coleoptera of flood refuse: a comparison of samples from Surrey and Oxfordshire' (ibid., 83, 1947, pp.113-5), which involved sorting out 3,795 specimens, and another on flood refuse from Montgomeryshire (ibid., 101, 1965, pp.45-46). He wrote various notes on the Surrey fauna, particularly of Bookham Common, some of which appeared in the London Naturalist, and a comprehensive account. On many of his field trips he was accompanied by his friend and companion Miss Maureen Fryer after whom he named Meligethes maureenae. (MD 10/02) Max Barclay has said of Easton's collection at the NHM "[He] wrote a code on his specimens, but thank goodness, we did get his notebooks. A work experience student, Kate Picard, had the job of transferring the note book entries to data labels and adding them to the specimens. Easton's specimens also needed re-pinning as he used copper based pins." (MD 10/03)

He worked for a time at the NHM and gave to the collections there 203 specimens collected by P.S. Nathan in India (1949.207) apart from his own extensive collection of Meligethes shortly before his death. All his field notes and collections he made available to Ashley Kirk-Spriggs who made extensive use of them for Pollen Beetles (1996) in the RESL Handbooks for the Indentification of British Insects series. A correspondence collection including approximately 500 letters from 12 British entomologists dated c.1947-1978 concerning his work on Meligethes is in the NHM (listed in Harvey et al. (1996)) together with approximately 100 drawings of Meligethes.

FRES from 1940. There is an obituary by M. Bacchus and A Kirk-Spriggs in EMM., 126, 1990, pp. 89-95 with portrait and full bibliography, and another by the same authors, in Antenna, 14, 1990, pp.61-63. (MD 10/02)

EASTON, E.A.

Gave 22 Coleoptera from Canada to the NHM in 1948 (1948.424). (MD 10/02)

EATON, Alfred Edwin (1845 - 1929)

A Reverend who was mainly interested in Diptera. Gave several thousand insects to the NHM mainly Diptera and Lepidoptera, but also including Coleoptera as follows: A Calosoma from Avon and Carabus auratus 'taken at Shabrook by Bluett 1835' (1875.39); 42 from Portugal (1880.68); 2 Coccinella from N. Italy (1881.34); 32, including 20 cave beetles from S. France (1881.40); 12 from the Cape of Good Hope (1881.55); 5 from Italy (1882.26); 20 from Spain (1884.12); 64 from Algeria (1894.114; 1895.34; 1895.75; 1896.273; 1897.268; and 1910.346) and 5 from Switzerland (1911.439). In addition, the Royal Society gave to the Museum 35 Coleoptera collected by Eaton as a member of the Transit of Venus Expedition (1876.43).

There is an obituary by F.W. Edwards in Ent., 62, 1929, pp.167-68. (MD 10/02)

ECKERSLEY, E.

A Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He gave insects including 63 Coleoptera from Orange River Colony, and 20 from Bloemfontein to the NHM in 1904 (1904.90 and 1904.189). (MD 10/02)

ECKLON, C.F.

Smith (1986) records that there is a letter in the HDO to Hope dated 1834 from Ecklon enclosing an account for S. African insects which he had purchased on Hope's behalf. (MD 10/02)

EDGAR

Smith (1986) records that there are Coleoptera in the HDO taken by Edgar in the neighbourhood of Oxford in 1859. (MD 10/02)

EDLESTON, Hubert McDonald (1877 - 1959)

Well known Lepidopterist. Published 'The nuptial flight of Hylesinus fraxini Panz.' In EMM., 71, 1935, p.259; 'Carabus auratus L. in NE London', ibid., 77, 1941, p.207; 'Insects and spiders mistaken for the Colorado beetle', ibid., 79, 1943, p.89; and 'Buprestis aurulenta L. in England', ibid., 83, 1947, p.3. He worked at the Plant Pathological Laboratory, Harpenden.

There is an obituary by N.D. Riley in Ent., 92, 1959, 155-157 with portrait.(MD 10/02)

EDLESTON Robert Smith (1819 - 31 October 1872)

Lived for most of his life in Bowdon, Cheshire, where he is buried. He was primarily a Lepidopterist but did take up Coleoptera in the last years of his life and according to Edward Newman had made a very large collection before his death (Ent., 6, 1872, p.272). Sharp (1908) notes that much of his collecting was done in company with James Sidebotham who also lived at Bowdon. The pair not only collected in this country but also on the Continent to which, Sidebotham's obituaries state, he travelled frequently.

Edleston and Sidebotham introduced some five species of continental weevils as new to the British list between June 1864 and May 1865. With the single exception of one record of Polydrusus prasinus (Olivier), by Ellis from Liverpool some twenty years later, none of these species has been taken since (I am grateful to Mike Morris for pointing this out to me).

Coleoptera collected by Edleston are in the Mason Collection at Bolton. According to a letter in the W.E. Sharp correspondence at Liverpool the Edleston specimens are distinquished by their large scarlet labels. Smith (1986) p.75 records that correspondence with J.C.Dale is in the HDO.

Apart from the notice in EMM. referred to above there are others in EMM., 9, 1872, p.167; Petites Nouv. Ent., 4, 1872, p.265 and J. RESL., 1872, p.1. (MD 10/02)

EDMONDS, Richard (1801-1886)

Published 'The Death Watch; the ticking of Anobium' in Magazine of Natural History, 7, 1834, pp. 468-469. (MD 10/02)

EDMONDS, T.

Sold 361 Coleoptera from Chile including the type of Cicindela gormazi [?], to the NHM in 1882 (82.23).

Presumably this is the solicitor father of Thomas Herbert (see below) since the latter's obituary, by Donisthorpe, mentions that his father 'was chiefly a Lepidopterist [who]... collected many rare species in Peru'. Donisthorpe also mentions that Edmonds senior lived in Totnes, Devon, and collected beetles in this country which were included in his son's collection. (MD 10/02)

EDMONDS, Thomas Herbert (13 March 1887 - 30 April 1944)

Born at Guildford, Surrey, the son of a solicitor (see T. Edmonds above), and educated at Ashburton Grammar School, Devon. He decided to become a solicitor himself and was articled to a firm in London. After qualifying, however, he moved to join a firm in Bath. He was called up during the first World War and after being wounded on the beaches at Gallipoli, he returned to live with his father at 'Strathmore', Totnes, south Devon, and to join his father's firm in which he became a partner. Edmonds, who was sometimes known as 'The' Edmonds because of his initials, never married. He died of heart failure when leaving his house to go on a fire alert, and was succeeded by two sisters.

Edmonds added a number of species to the British list including (Cartodere) Dienerella separanda (Reitter) (ERJV., 42, 1930, p.148); Gymentron plantaginis Epph. (EMM., 66, 1930, p.110); Staphylinus winkleri Bernh. (ibid., 66, 1930, p.273) and Scopaeus abbreviatus Rey and Muls. (ibid., 68, 1932, pp.206-209. He also described four species as new to science, none of which has survived: Ceuthorrhynchus palustre (ERJV.,42, 1930, pp.23-24); Cephennium pallidum (EMM.,67, 1931, p.272); Scopaeus gracilipes (ibid., 69, 1933, pp.7-10); and Tachys piceus (ibid., 70, 1934, pp.7-10). His other articles included a review of the genus Scopaeus Er. (ibid., 68, pp.206-209) and notes on the local Devon fauna which appeared in J. Torquay nat. Hist. Soc., e.g. 4, 1924/25, pp.194, 281.

Edmonds accompanied Donisthorpe on a number of trips to Windsor and is recorded to have been a great admirer of Miss Florence Kirk. Cephennium edmondsi was named after him by Donisthorpe.

This is presumably the Edmonds referred to by Morley (1899) p.1.

Edmonds' collection, which included material collected by his father, was acquired by Manchester through R.W. Lloyd in 1958. The data accompanying the collection is extremely poor, and the book which went with it has been lost. Many specimens without any data have been thrown out and others used for educational purposes. The remainder occupy 40 drawers. Most of the specimens are mounted on clear perspex and Colin Johnson told me that he thought it appeared to have been arranged by colour! A report on the collection was made by Donisthorpe and is also in the Museum.

Apart from the above Hancock & Pettit (1981) note that there may be a small cabinet of Carabidae at York Museum which may have belonged to Edmonds, and that his manuscript material is in the Museum at Torquay.

There is an obituary by Donisthorpe in EMM., 80, 1944, p.162, and a note by E.A. Cockayne in Proc.RESL., (C)9, 1945, p.47. (MD 10/02)

EDMONDSON, Thomas (Junior)

Published 'Note on the voracity of Dytiscus marginalis' in Zoo.,2, 1844, pp. 701-702. (MD 10/02)

EDMUNDS

Lived in Devon. There are specimens bearing this name in the D.G. Hall Collection at Baldock. (I am grateful to Trevor James for this information). (Could this be an error for Edmonds perhaps?) (MD 10/02)

EDMUNDS, Miss R.A.

Mentioned by Morley (1899) p.iv. (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, C.L.

Gave 250 insects including 19 Coleoptera which he had collected in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Fiji to the NHM in 1923 (1923.44 and 1923.408). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, E(C?).E.

Gave 400 Coleoptera which he had collected in Mauritius to the NHM in 1899 (1899.257) and a further 150 in the following year (1900.21). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, Ellen

Collected insects including Coleoptera in Canada which were given to the NHM by Claude Morley in 1912 (1912.506). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, Frederick Wallace (28 November 1888 - 15 November 1940)

Well known Dipterist who was attached to the staff of the NHM. As one of the early members of the Letchworth Naturalists Society he also collected Coleoptera, and specimens are included in the collections of the N. Hertfordshire Museums (I am grateful to Trevor James for this information).

Gilbert (1977) p.103, lists 15 obituaries and other notices. (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, George

Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1857, as interested in British Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. His address is given as 24 Acacia Road, St. Johns Wood, London. (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, Miss Grace

Daughter (?) of John Edwards (see below). Collected actively in Constantinople and surrounding area, and in Rumania, sometimes with Miss E. Relfs. Made seven donations to the NHM between 1923 and 1928 which included more than 340 Coleoptera (1923.425, 1925.309, 1925.323, 1925.347, 1925.388, 1925.407, 1928.238). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, J. Gordon

Gave 9 Coleoptera he had collected in the USA to the NHM in 1950 (1950.370) and 1951 (1951.102). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, James (1856 - 13 October 1928)

Henry Turner recorded in EMM., 1928, p.279, that Edwards was 'an Entomologist from childhood'. He did most of his early collecting in the area of Norwich where he lived and by the age of 24 was able to give a collection of local material to the Castle Museum (see below). In 1891 he left Norwich to take up the position of curator and secretary to Henry John Elwes of Colesborne Park, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Here he had charge of one of the largest private collections of butterflies in the country, and in conjunction with Elwes he published a number of important works on this group. On the death of Elwes in 1922 the Colesborne collections were disposed of, but Edwards remained as secretary to Colonel H.C.Elwes who inherited the estate. Although this meant an end to his professional entomological duties, Edwards continued to work in his spare time on the Hemiptera, the group for which he is best known, and the Coleoptera. He died leaving a widow, two sons and a daughter.

His first article on Coleoptera appears to have been 'On an additional aid to the determination of certain British Gyrinidae', Ent., 23, 1890, pp.105-109. This was closely followed by 'Coleoptera in Norfolk', EMM., 26, 1890, pp.64-66, which dealt with the more important captures he had made at Brandon, Horning and Mousehold Heath. By 1895 he was able to publish a list of the Norfolk species amounting to 1,728 entries as part 12 of the Fauna and Flora of Norfolk series in the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society and he subsequently up-dated this every five years. This followed on from his list of Norfolk Hemiptera published in 1884.

Other important articles included accounts of the British species of the following genera: Haltica (EMM., 27, 1891, pp.289-294); Helophorus (ibid., 44, 1908, pp.218-224); Riolus (ibid., 45, 1909, pp.76-78); Chalcoides (ibid., pp.127-129); Tychius (ibid., 46, 1910, pp.80-83); Smicronyx (ibid., pp.132-135); Haliplus (ibid., 47,1911, pp.1-10,41); Laccobius (ibid., 48, 1912, pp.210-211) and Rhynchites (ibid., 53, 1917, pp.22 26). He described Dryops anglicanus, which he took at Horning, as new to science (ibid., 45, 1909, p.218), and he made a number of further additions to the British list including Oedemera virescens L. (ibid., 39, 1903, pp.64-65); Dryops luridus Er. (ibid., 44, 1908, p.102); and Acanthoscelides obtectus Say (ibid., 51, 1915, pp.140-142).

Edwards' main collection was acquired by the Castle Museum, Norwich, in 1929 (20.929). Most of the specimens have no data other than attached numbers. It comprises 10,700 beetles in 20 boxes which are described as the 'main collection'; an unknown number of beetles in 35 other boxes described as 'others'; 1 box of foreign beetles; and 92 boxes of other insects. An earlier collection of 200 beetles, 83 of which were collected in the neighbourhood of Norwich, was acquired by the same museum in 1884. Other Coleoptera collected by Edwards may be found in the C.G. Hall collection at Oldham. There is correspondence between him and W.E. Sharp in the latter's volumes at Liverpool (e.g. vol. 3, p.116 dated 21.vii.1909).

FRES. The account by Turner mentioned above includes a portrait. (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, John

Gave four collections of insects including Coleoptera which he had made while serving in the British Embassy at Constantinople, to the NHM between 1923-1925. Most were from the Embassy gardens (1923.435, 1923.557, 1924.31, 1925.281). (See Miss Grace Edwards above). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, Robin

Worked for the Rentokil Research Laboratory and published various notes on Coleoptera including: 'Alphitobius diaperinus Pz. in Broiler Houses' (EMM., 98, 1962, p.88); 'Two new records for Metophthtalmus serripennis (Broun)' (ibid., 101, 1965, p.115); 'Anthrenus sarnicus Mroczk. the present status of this insect in the British Isles', (ibid., 105, 1969, p.119); 'Dermestes peruvianus (Cast.) and D. haemorrhoidalis (Kust.), their distribution in Britain', (ibid., 111, 1975, pp.65-67); and 'Lagria villosa (F.): an African beetle established in Brazil', (ibid., 113, 1977, p.202). (MD 10/02)

EDWARDS, Roy L.

Published 'Dermestes frischii Kug. attacking the shells of cuttlefish' in EMM., 92, 1956, p.408.

Coleoptera collected by Edwards in the Midlands, including Lichfield, and in E. Yorkshire in the 1950s, are in the Department of Zoology at Hull University. (I am grateful to Roger Key for this information). (MD 10/02)

EELES, W.J.

Published 'Odontaeus armiger (Scop.) in Berkshire' in EMM., 97, 1961, p.286. AES member who lived in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon.. (MD 10/02)

EGGELING, J.W.

Collected 'a few' of the 57 Coleoptera from S.W. Uganda given to the NHM by G.R.Hancock in 1934 (1934.210) and a further 15 specimens which he gave himself in the following year (1935.246). (MD 10/02)

ELLACOMBE, G.H.W.

A Doctor. Gave a number of insects including Coleoptera from Livingstone, N.W.Rhodesia, to the NHM in 1910 (1910.56). (MD 10/02)

ELLIMAN, E. George

Little seems to be known about Elliman who compiled the first list of Coleoptera for Hertfordshire in the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire, 1, 1902, pp. 83-110, and who added to the list with notes in the Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society (e.g. 12, 1905, p.168 and 13, 1907, p.10). For at least part of this time he lived in Tring and subsequently in Chesham, and he published notes on these Buckinghamshire sites in the EMM. (e.g. 36, 1900, pp.11-12 and 236; 39, 1903, pp.18-19; 40, 1904, p.158; and 41, 1905, p.20).

Later, his collecting extended to Cromer (ibid., 44, 1908, pp.274-75), Horning (ERJV., 7, 1896, pp.306-308), Llanfairfechan (EMM., 9, 1898, pp.257-258 and 10, 1899, pp. 211-212) and to the Isle of Man. At the last he took Longitarsus curtus [Thyamis curta] All. which he confirmed as British. When working on the Hertfordshire fauna it is known that he collaborated with C.T. Gimingham. John Owen has pointed out to me that Atheta ellimani, which Elliman took in carrion at Carlisle, was named after him by Bernhauer in 1909.

According to a typescript in the NMW, Elliman gave his collection of Staphylinidae to Tomalin in 1929. There is also evidence, however, that Tomalin bought a collection of Coleoptera from Elliman for £14 in this year and I have seen a receipted letter to this effect. It is not clear whether these are the same or different collections. Certainly Coleoptera from Elliman's collection passed to the NMW via Tomalin. According to information I have received from Trevor James a duplicate collection of Coleoptera to that now at Cardiff but without data labels exists in the St. Albans Museum. A further 23 beetles were given by Elliman to the NHM in 1898 (1898.236), and Trevor James also tells me that there are Elliman specimens in the D.G. Hall collection at Baldock.

Two of Elliman's collecting diaries are preserved in the NMW. They include lists of numbers from 1-2331 (August 1891 - Oct 1896) and 2340-7084 (June 1896 - Aug 1907).

I have not found any obituary notices. (MD 10/02)

ELLIOT

Tony Irwin informs me that there are specimens bearing the label Elliot in E.A. Butler's foreign collection of Coleoptera and Hemiptera at Norwich Museum. (MD 10/03)

ELLIOTT, Ernest Arthur (20 June 1850 - 14 March 1936)

Born in Calcutta the third son of William Henry Elliott, Chief Magistrate there (who refused a baronetcy and never dared to tell his wife!). He was educated in Brighton, Koblenz, Reading, and, after a short period of working in the City when his foot was badly crushed, at Repton. Elliott then undertook a training in forestry. This lead to his working in Saxony with Ratzeburg and von Siebold's 'Merry Black Foresters' between 1871-1873. At this time he also became an Unteroffizier in the Saxon Iagers and assisted at King John of Saxony's Jubilee. In 1873/74 he returned to India, where as a result of poor health and his eyes 'giving way', he failed to get into the Indian Forestry Service and was made an Assistant at Bombay.

After only a short time in India Elliott travelled by windjammer round Cape Horn to Australia where he took up cattle ranching on the Paroo River, Queensland, and opal mining. In Australia he survived two fires, major floods, attacks by wild cattle, and another serious leg wound, before returning home in 1884 to live initially in London and later at St. Leonards. He married his cousin Agnes Warner in October 1899.

Elliott's obituary in Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 3 Proceedings, 1936, pp. cxvi-cxviii, records that although he showed an early interest in science, noting stag beetles at Sonning in 1860 and carrying out a botanical survey of Derbyshire in 1868, his main strength was as a collector 'of coins, stamps and all objects of natural history'. In fact his great interest in natural history appears to have been focussed on the Coleoptera, on which he published a number of papers, and from 1920, the Hymenoptera. His work on the latter, which was encouraged by Claude Morley, resulted in the publication of an important monograph on world Stephanidae. Elliott's work on Coleoptera appears to have been concentrated chiefly on the Suffolk fauna and there are various references to him in Morley (1899). In the Introduction to this work Morley wrote: 'My best thanks to my fidus Achates, Mr Ernest A. Elliott, F.I.Inst., etc., I will but mention. My obligations to him in this and in all matters scientific are too numerous and deep for mere wording' (p.xiv); and in the First Supplement (1915), he added 'Mr Ernest A. Elliott, F.Z.S., and I have continued to scour the county in every direction, as is our ancient wont'. Together with Morley he published a list of the Hymenopterous parasites of beetles in Trans.ESL., 1907 and 1908.

Elliott had several brothers all of whom appear to have travelled extensively and to have collected Coleoptera which they sent to him. These may account for some of his various notes on foreign species eg. 'Cionus luctuosus, Bohem at Tenerife' (EMM., 38, 1902, p.220), and for some of his ten gifts of more than 1,800 beetles to the NHM from S. Africa, Canaries, India, Brazil, etc.(1897.262; 1898.130; 1902.153; 1903.279; 1903.279; 1908.17; 1908.24; 1909.66; 1910.98; 1912.192 and 1919.103). The bulk of his collection passed to the Hastings Museum, however, and there is an interesting note about this in the obituary mentioned above: 'The great majority of the late Mr Ernest Elliott's collection of British Insects was amassed in Suffolk, where he had almost annually worked on the subject for full forty years, though usually during only odd fortnights. Most series of his excellent beetle cabinet, in particular, showed specimens from our county; and he had repeatedly stated his intention of willing it to its native soil for the use of local students, especially our own Members. He wrote from his St Leonards home to your Hon. Secretary: 'I am thinking of making a new Will. Would you [Bury or Ipswich museums] like the cabinets of British Beetles, African Butterflies and Foreign Beetles?' ... But no new Will had been drawn when he died six weeks later. The whole of his British Collections were given by his brother-in-law and executor, Evelyn H.V. Elliott of Braidlea, Ditchling, Sussex, in accordance with a deplorable 'expressed wish' of the testator, to the handy Hastings Museum... No more than his Atlantean insects and Tropic beetles came to Suffolk; these are open to Members' examination at Monks Soham House'.

FZS. Elliott presented a complete set of the Genera Insectorum to 1932 to the RESL of which he was a Fellow 1900-1936. (I am very grateful to Howard Mendel for sending me a copy of Elliott's obituary). (MD 10/02)

ELLIOTT, G.F. Scott

Gave eight gifts of Coleoptera from Africa and Madagascar to the NHM between 1890 and 1895 (90.23, 55 specimens; 91.66, 66 specimens collected by M.J.Cloisel; 92.55, 2 specimens; 1894.46, 21 specimens; 1894.220, 20 specimens from Uganda; 1895.35, 3 specimens; 1895.41, 250 specimens; and 1895.121, 7 specimens). (MD 10/02)

ELLIOTT, H.F.

Gave various zoological specimens to the NHM including 14 Coleoptera from Tristan da Cunha (1953.360). (MD 10/02)

ELLIOTT, Sir Walter

The NHM accessioned 16 Indian Coleoptera 'taken out of glass tubes from Sir Walter Elliott' in 1877 (1877.14). Is this perhaps the same Elliott who published 'On Hylobius abietis' in Proc.ESL., 1860, p.129, and who lived in Hawick? (MD 10/02)

ELLIS, Herbert/Henry Willoughby

see WILLOUGHBY-ELLIS

ELLIS, John W. (1857 - 1916)

Lancashire doctor who was a keen botanist and entomologist. He compiled a list of the Coleoptera of the Liverpool area which was first read before the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society in 1880 and published in The Naturalist, subsequently communicated to the Liverpool Biological Society on 13 April 1888, and finally published in book form as The Coleoptera of the Liverpool District (1889). Sharp (1908) said of it: 'reproduces in succinct form all the local information regarding the order at that time available. Most of its records are due to Dr Ellis's own unfailing energy, but incorporated in the work are the observations of Messers Wilding, Smedley, Willoughby Gardner, and other contemporary students. The rigid circumspection of the area treated of to a fifteen mile radius from Liverpool Town Hall excludes many of the best Lancashire and Cheshire localities and deprives the work of considerable value and interest. The area thus limited was certainly very thoroughly worked ...' (p.14).

Ellis's copy of this list marked up with extra information since publication is in the Liverpool Museum, where there is also a manuscript by Ellis titled List of Coleoptera (Beetles) collected between May 1st 1884 and March 31st 1885 in the district within fifteen miles of the Liverpool Exchange which was compiled from 1502 specimens belonging to 329 species.

Ellis's main collection is in the Liverpool Museum, acquired as a gift through the Liverpool Naturalists Field Club, and contains about 12,000 specimens in a 48 drawer cabinet. Unfortunately the specimens are accompanied by little data. Colour codes exist on some but the code book has been lost. 31 drawers are devoted to British specimens and the remainder to foreign beetles (with the exception of two drawers of Lepidoptera). The foreign material is strong on dung beetles in particular and includes material from F. Archer, Rev. J. O'Niel, E. Redman, Lightfoot, C. Melly, J. Chappell, D. Sharp, Buysson, B. Cooke jnr., J. Mertha, Boardman, S. Capper, C. Gregson and L. Mosley. Ellis presented a single beetle (from South Arica) to the NHM in 1891 (1891.9), and gave 183 beetles, mainly from Cheshire but including some specimens from Llangollen, collected in 1888, to the Grosvenor Museum, Chester (1125-1307).

Apart from the manuscript material referred to above Liverpool Museum also has two marked up check lists, a manuscript The Journal of a Naturalist, which lists captures from 9 February to 7 May 1875 and 29 September 1886 to 21 July 1903, and a Locality Lists for Coleoptera which covers the period 13 January 1884 to 5 June 1886.

There are accounts of Ellis in Lancs.Ches.Nat., February 1912 and August, 1916; Handbook and Guide to the Herbarium Collections in the Public Museums, Liverpool, 1935, 17-18; and Proc. Bot. Soc. Br Isl., 7, 1968, pp.169-172, which I have not seen. (I am grateful to Ian Wallace for help at Liverpool Museum). (MD 10/02)

ELLISON, L.

Gave 4 beetles and other insects from N. Rhodesia to the NHM in 1933 (1933.408). (MD 10/02)

ELMSLIE, Peter

Mentioned by E.W.Janson in the Ent.Ann., 1856, p.86 as the captor of a specimen of Otiorhynchus septentrionis Herbst which was in the collection of John Curtis. (MD 10/02)

ELTON, C.S.

Oxford zoologist who published The Pattern of Animal Communities (1960). His publications on Coleoptera include: 'The habitat of Staphylinus ater Gr.' (EMM., 87, 1951, p.175; 'Prionychus ater (F.) in Wytham Woods, Berks.' (ibid., 96, 1960, 176-177); and 'Aulonium trisulcum (Fourc.) in Wytham Woods, Berks.' (ibid., 106, 1970, pp.190-192). 'Notes on the fauna of rotting wood in the Spey Valley region, Inverness-shire', ibid., 106, 1970, pp.180-185, supported the important generalisation, from the conservation point of view, made in his 1966 book, that whereas there are many species of herbivorous animals feeding on green plants that are attached to one species of plant only, or perhaps to one genus, the great majority of saprophagous and predatory animal species have not got restricted food-habits, and also have a relatively wide range of habitat so far as plant species are concerned. In EMM., 119, 1983, p.185 Elton wrote of his friendship for the late Dr Maurice Hobby which had begun in the 1920s and noted that it was from Hobby that he had his first lessons in the lesser-known groups of British insects.

Elton gave Staphylinidae from a red squirrel's nest to the NHM in 1937 (1937.361), and insects collected on Oxford University Expeditions to Spitsbergen, Lapland, and Hudson Strait, 1921-31, and also some from Norway, 1921, to the HDO. He also made many small donations between 1940-1966 of British insects to the latter.

FRES from 1925. (MD 10/02)

ELTON, E.F.

Published 'Odontaeus mobilicornis at Wellington College' (EMM., 27, 1891, p.109) and 'Coleoptera near Wellington College in July', (ibid., 28, 1892, pp.288-289). He appears to have been on the staff of the College and a member of the Natural Science Society. (MD 10/02)

ELTRINGHAM, Harry (18 May 1873 - 26 November 1941)

Well known Lepidopterist, entomological histologist and sportsman who worked at the HDO for some twenty years and was President of the RESL 1931-32. Amongst his gifts to the HDO were Coleoptera from Brazzaville, French Congo presented in 1910, and a portrait of Professor Poulton taken through the eye of a glowworm!

Gilbert (1977) p.106 lists six obituaries and other notices. (MD 10/02)

ELWES, Henry John (1846 - 26 November 1922)

Well known Lepidopterist. Amongst the many thousands of butterflies which he gave to the NHM as a result of his world wide collecting activities are 7 beetles from Argentina and Chile (1902.188). He lived at Colesborne, Cheltenham. Gilbert (1977) p.106 lists eight obituary and other notices. (MD 10/02)

EMBRY, B.

Gave 10 Coleoptera collected in Istanbul to the NHM in 1926 (1926.57) and a further 63 specimens collected in Turkey in 1938 (1938.715). (MD 10/02)

EMDEN, E.M. Van

See VAN EMDEN

EMERY, J.

The NHM exchanged more than a hundred Coleoptera with Emery in 1876 when he lived in Naples (1876.30). (MD 10/02)

ENGLEHEART, N.B.

Chalmers-Hunt (1976) p. 107 records that Engleheart sold British and foreign insects through Stevens on 17 and 18 March 1870. (MD 10/02)

ENOCK, Frederick (17 April 1845 - 26 May 1916)

Best known as a Hymenopterist and Lepidopterist, and for his work as a professional 'Preparer of Microscopic Objects'. He did publish articles on Phaedon cochleariae, however (Zoo., 16, 1892, p.274 and Ent., 25, 1892, pp. 230-233), on 'Life history of Cicindela campestris' (Proc.SLES., 1896, pp.87-93), and on Stylops (EMM., 12, 1875, pp.36-38).

Enock gave various gifts of insects to the NHM including specimens of Stylops in 1875 and 1876 (1875.18 and 1876.21), and he also gave Stylops to the HDO at this time (Smith (1986) p.117). (MD 10/02)

ESAM, W.W.

Published four articles on Coleoptera in the vicinity of Hastings in ERJV., 5, 1894, p.156; EMM., 33, 1897, pp.18-19; 34, 1898, 17-18; and 38, 1902 38-39. In the last he explained that 'very limited leisure during the last three years has prevented my doing much collecting.' He gave his address as Eagle School House, St. Leonards. (MD 10/02)

EUSTACE, E.M.

A master at Wellington College. Published 'Two Coleoptera new to Berkshire [Claviger longicornis Mull. and Anthicus tobias Mars.]' in EMM., 82, 1946, p.45, and 'Neuraphes planifrons Blatch and other species of the genus in Berkshire', ibid., 87, 1951, p[.93.

Eustace's collections including 30,000 specimens of both Coleoptera and Lepidoptera were acquired by the Manchester Museum in 1958 via R.W. Lloyd. They are accompanied by a collecting notebook titled Notes on the Coleoptera in my collection taken by myself unless otherwise stated. Order as in Beare in Donisthorpe 1904 which covers the period 1912-1946, and by letters from other Coleopterists. I have also seen specimens collected by Eustace in the general collection at Doncaster Museum. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, Mrs

Gave 100 Beetles from Assam which were registered at the NHM in 1885 with the note 'These were received in a bottle with spirit many years ago, but no letter of explanation accompanied them'. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, F.C.

Smith (1986) pp. 90,155 records that Evans and H.G. Vevers gave 87 Coleoptera and Diptera from the Island of Myggenaes in the Faroes to the HDO in 1938. The collection is accompanied by field notes dated July 1937. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, J.W.

Gave various insects from West Africa to the NHM in 1849 including Coleoptera (1849.36). (MD 10/02)

EVANS, H. Silvester

Gave more than 5,000 Coleoptera which he had collected to the NHM, many through the International Institute of Entomology, as follows: 2 from Belgian Congo (1933.382); 2,116 from Fiji and Central America (1933.451); 83 Carabidae from Begian Congo (1937.1); 2,130 from Belgian Congo and N. Rhodesia; 6 from Fiji (1932.155); 5 from the Pacific Islands (1951.74); 5 from Africa (1951.74 and 120); and 7 from Fiji (1952.613). Smith (1986) p.118 records that he also gave insects to the HDO but Coleoptera are not mentioned specifically. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, L.

A Doctor of Medicine. Listed as a subscriber Denny (1825). His address is given as St. Giles, Norwich. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, Michael S. (d.1988)

Son of I.M. Evans. Before his early death in a climbing accident, Evans's main interests were in wood lice, of which he was recorder for the county of Leicestershire, and in the Carabidae. He published a note on 'Leistus rufomarginatus (Dufts.) in Leicestershire' in EMM., 114, 1978, p.125, based on a specimen taken by his friend E. Randall Wright. (Information from Derek Lott). (MD 10/02)

EVANS, R. de B.

Collected 2,000 insects including 33 Coleoptera from Columbia, Trinidad, Venezuela and other countries which were given to the NHM by Miss B.A.H. Evans in 1934 (1934.29). (MD 10/02)

EVANS, William (1850 - 23 October 1922)

Born in Edinburgh. He entered the service of the Scottish Widows Fund but was obliged to retire when in his early 40s as a result of ill health. He then devoted the remainder of his life to a wide range of natural history pursuits including entomology. Although he had travelled extensively in the British Isles and in Europe, and had visited the United States and Canada, most of his work was on the Scottish fauna and flora, particularly of the Forth area.

Evans's interest in entomology was wide ranging as the many notes and articles which he published in the Ann. Scot. nat. Hist. and, after 1900, in other periodicals, show. The first devoted to Coleoptera appears to have been 'Saperda carcharias L. in Elginshire' (Ann. Scot. nat Hist., 1, 1892, p.78) and the last 'Apion miniatum Germ.in Scotland' (EMM., 54, 1918, p.64). His publications included one note with T. Hudson Beare on the Coleoptera of Mole's nests in the Edinburgh district (EMM., 45, 1909, p.88).

As a recorder Evans is said to have been scrupulously careful to ensure accuracy, and what he could not identify with certainty he sent to others. For some time his work on the Scottish fauna was varied by the preparation and distribution of the large amounts of material which his son William Edgar Evans (see below) forwarded to him from Mesopotamia.

Evans was at one time President of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh and is recorded to have been an editor of the Scottish Naturalist (although his name is not officially listed as such in that publication).

Gilbert (1977) lists four obituaries and there is an account with portrait in P. Bonnet, Bibliographia Araneorum, 1, 1945, p.51. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, William Edgar

Son of William Evans (see above). Collected a large number of insects in Mesopotamia while serving there as a Captain in the R.A.M.C.. K.J. Morton, 'Odonata from Mesopotamia' in EMM., 55, 1919, pp.142-151, gives some account of his travels there. Many of these insects, including types, were subsequently acquired by the RSM (1951.73) together with Evans's collecting diary. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, W.F.

Chalmers Hunt (1976) records that Evans sold a collection of British and foreign insects, and his library through Stevens on 22 November 1870 and 26 February 1875. This is presumably the same W.F. Evans who gave four gifts of Coleoptera to the NHM between 1845 and 1847 (1845.132; 1846.113; 1847.45; 1847.85. Other insects were given at different times) from various countries including N. Africa, and who gave his address in 1857 as 'Admiralty'. (MD 10/02)

EVANS, William Harry (1876 - 1956)

Best known for his work on Indian Lepidoptera and later on Hesperiidae in the NHM, but appears to have had an interest in Cdoleoptera too for amongst the collection of manuscript material in the Museum listed by Harvey et al (1996) is a notebook Catalogue of Coleoptera from Grenada, c.1891. (MD 10/02)

EVE, Anthony

Lived at Carshalton, Surrey, and collected Coleoptera. At one time he was in partnership with Eric Classey but left him to set up a book business of his own.

FRES 1960-1975. (MD 3/03)

EVERETT, A.

Collected Coleoptera in Borneo, Sarawak and the Philippines which were acquired by the NHM between 1876 and 1892. (1876.35: 7 specimens purchased from Higgins; 1877.46: 4 specimens from the Philippines purchased from Higgins; 1890.1: 1 Lampyrid given by Everett; 1893.17: 33 specimens purchased from E. Garrard; and 1892.8: 36 specimens purchased from E. Garrard). (MD 10/02)

EWING, S.

A Reverend. He gave various insects to the NHM including 51 beetles from Van Dieman's Land in 1846 (1846.81). (MD 10/02)

Last updated: 01 December 2003