Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists |
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Michael Darby Feedback: Please forward notice of errors and corrections to (). FFAHY, E. Ryan et al. (1984) record that Fahy published 'A short account of the Elminthidae in Ireland with a key to the larvae' and 'Observations on the growth and distribution of certain lotic Coleoptera in Ireland' in INJ, 17(8), 1972, pp.264-267 and 269-272. (MD 12/02) FAIRLEY, J.S. Ryan et al. (1984) record three articles by Fairley in the INJ between 1971 and 1975 on bird food and pellets which mention Coleoptera. He also published a note on Leptinus testaceus Mull., ibid., 14, 1963, pp.165-167. (MD 12/02) FALCONAR, Magnus Sold a collection of natural history specimens including insects through Stevens between 12 and 22 October 1778. (MD 12/02) FALCONER, William There are specimens in the general collection of Coleoptera at Doncaster Museum bearing Falconer's name. Some are dated 1916. (MD 12/02) FANSHAWE, Lyonell Published 'Notes on the capture and preservation of Coleoptera' in Ent., 18, 1885, pp. 65-70, 136-139 and 190-192. (MD 12/02) FARINGTON, Miss Published a 'Letter on the occurrence of Ptinus hololeucus' in Proc. ESL, 1862, p.92. (MD 12/02) FARIS, R.C. Published 'A "swarm" of Cockchafers in County Cavan', in INJ., 5, 1935, pp.270-271; 'The beetle Carabus clathratus L. at Low altitudes inland', ibid., 8, 1943, p. 84; and 'Metoecus paradoxus L. in Co. Dublin', ibid., 18 (3), 1974, p. 95. (MD 12/02) FARMER, Austin There are Coleoptera collected by Farmer in Kent in 1889 in the C.G. Hall collection at Oldham Museum (Information from Simon Hayhow). (MD 12/02) FARMER, J.C. Published 'Two Curculios; a Grub injurious to Oats' in Magazine of Natural History, 3, 1830, p. 477, and 'On the ravages of Insects upon Barley and Turnips', ibid., 8, 1935, pp. 171-179. (MD 12/02) FARQUHARSON, C.O. (d. 1918) Smith (1986) p.18, records that insects collected by Farquharson in southern Nigeria from 1914-1918 are in the HDO. The NHM acquired from him 3 Coleoptera bred from larvae found in a fungus in Lagos (1918.32). Farquharson's observations and collections are fully described in Trans. ESL, 1921, pp.319-531. He died in the sinking of the Burutu. (MD 12/02) FARR, H. Gave a collection of foreign Coleoptera and Lepidoptera to the Castle Museum, Norwich in 1844 (photocopy in Accessions Register). (MD 12/02) FARR, W.B. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) records that a collection of Indian insects made by Farr, which presumably included Coleoptera, was sold after his death through Stevens on 20 June 1893. (MD 12/02) FARRELL, Thomas There are Coleoptera collected by Farrell in Kent in 1883 in the C.G. Hall collection at Oldham Museum (Information from Simon Hayhow). (MD 12/02) FARREN, William (1836 - 21 November 1887) One of the early members of the Cambridge Entomological Society who was primarily a Lepidopterist but did publish a 'List of Coleoptera taken in the New Forest, Hants.' in Zoo., 20, 1862, pp. 8141-8142. There are obituaries in EMM, 24, 1888, p. 235 and Ent., 21, 1888, pp.71-72 and Chalmers-Hunt (1976) mentions that his collections were sold in 2 lots between November and December 1895, but none of these sources mentions Coleoptera. In the Ent. Ann., 1860 he is listed as 'collecting for sale' and perhaps that explains his involvement with beetles. (MD 12/02) FARROW, R.A. Published 'Omophrum limbatum (F) an addition (or restoration?) to the British list' in EMM, 106, 1970, pp. 219-221 (with E.S. Lewis) which was based on his discovery of this species at Rye Harbour while photographing the Orthopteran Tetrix ceperoi (Bol.). He had earlier taken other species of the genus on the banks of the River Niger in Mali. (MD 12/02) FASSNIDGE, William (1888 - 19 April 1949) Well known linquist and Lepidopterist who also interested himself in other orders. These interests extended to the publication of two notes on 'Mesosa nebulosa Fab. Ol. from Southampton' in Trans. Hampshire Ent. Soc., 3, 1927, p. 17 and 4, 1928, p.22, and one of his Lepidoptera notes refers to Saperda populnea L. making galls, ibid., 3, 1927, pp. 25-29. Gilbert (1977) lists five obituaries. (MD 12/02) FELLOWS, C. Gave 280 Coleoptera and other insects in two batches to the NHM on 16 June 1843 (1843.34 and 1843.35). (MD 12/02) FENN, Lady Ellenor (12 March 1744 - 1 November 1813) Published anonymously A short History of Insects... designed as an introduction to the study of that branch of natural history, and as a pocket companion to those who visit the Leverian Museum, Norwich, 1797, which I have not seen but which I assume includes beetles. It was one of a number of educational works which she wrote for children. She is not recorded to have written anything else on entomology. There is a portrait in Lisney, A.A. (1960) p.290. (MD 12/02) FENNELL, James Published a number of articles on insects including two on Coleoptera: 'The Wasp Beetle when impaled, produces an obvious noise, and in the following manner' and 'Localities near London in which the Glowworm has occurred, the larvae differs from the perfect insect, the eggs are luminous', Mag. Nat. Hist., 7, 1834, p. 61, and 8, 1835, pp. 625-626. (MD 12/02) FERGUSON, E.W. A Doctor. Gave 100 Coleoptera from Australia to the NHM in 1916 in exchange (1916.151 and 1916.187). (MD 12/02) FERGUSSON, Anderson (D?) (1877/78 - January 1949) Described in the only notice I have been able to find about him (Proc. RESL, 14(C), 1949-50, p. 64) as a 'well known Scottish Coleopterist'. He was certainly responsible for the article on Coleoptera in the British Association Handbook for Glasgow and the West of Scotland, 1901, and he published some ten or so notes on beetles in the Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., the EMM and the Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow between 1896 and 1935. The most important of these is probably 'Some rare Ayrshire Coleoptera' in the last mentioned journal, (NS) 5, 1896-99, pp. 136-137. Fergusson lived in Glasgow and his collection is housed in the University Museum there. (MD 12/02) FERGUSSON, W.N. Collected 67 Coleoptera and other insects in China which were purchased from W.F.H. Rosenberg by the NHM in 1910 (1910-192). (MD 12/02) FERRAR This name appears on Coleoptera in the collection of the Pusa Institute at Delhi. (MD 12/02) FERRY, R.S. (d. March 1983) Listed as a member of the AES from 1974 with interests in Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. His address is given as 24 Digswell Road, Welwyn, Hertfordshire. He was especially interested in Cerambycidae and part of his collection is incorporated in that of the N. Herts. Museums. Another part, including some notebooks, is with the Welwyn-Hatfield Museum Service, but much material is reported to be missing. (Information from Trevor James). (MD 12/02) FFINCH Gave 28 Coleoptera and other insects from Persia to the NHM when he was working at the India Office (1894.14, 1894.180 and 1895.127). (MD 12/02) FIDLER, J.H. A Doctor. Published 'Biological observations on various Chrysomelidae' in EMM, 85, 1949, p. 145, which showed that he had made a detailed study of Galerucella at Askham Bog, and 'A note on Nacerdes melanura', ibid., p. 151. He lived in York. (MD 12/02) FINCHER, F. Published 'A note on Galerucella viburni' in EMM, 83, 1947, p. 129; 'Lasiorhynchites opthalmicus Steph. in Worcestershire', ibid., p. 153, and 'Cantharis rustica Fallen and its prey', ibid., 89, 1951, p. 19. He lived in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and also published on Lepidoptera and Hemiptera. (MD 12/02) FIRTH, Michael (b. 18 October 1938) Worked with timber beetles and lived in Kippaz, Leeds, Yorkshire. FRES from 1961. (MD 3/03) FISCHER, Cecil E.C. While working as Deputy Conservator of Forests in S. India in 1911 he gave 4 Coleoptera from Coimbatore to the NHM (1911-351). (MD 12/02) FISHER, Cyril Edmund (8 October 1912 - 12 November 1958) Gilbert (1977) gives his birth date as 1931 but this must be incorrect. Worked in the Museums at Maidstone, Leeds and, at the time of his death, the Hancock Museum, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. FRES from 1938, and his brief obituary in Proc. RESL, 23(C), 1958-59, 7, mentions that he was interested in Coleoptera and Hemiptera. FRES from 1938. (MD 3/03) FISHER, Marshall Published 'Destructive economy of Meligethes' in Ent., 2, 1864, p. 40. (MD 12/02) FISHER, N. Ryan et al. (1984) p. 62 note that Fisher published 'Marine beetle at Greenisland, Co. Antrim' and 'Aepus and Lipura at Greenisland: a further note' in INJ, 5, 1935, p. 310 and 6, 1936, p. 24. (MD 12/02) FISHER, Ronald C. Worked as an entomologist at the Forest Products Research Laboratory at Princes Risborough in the 1920s to 1940s when he published a number of articles on Coleoptera. These included 'Aulonium trisulcatum Geoff. in Richmond Park' (EMM, 69, 1933, p.90); 'On the occurrence of Lyctus brunneus Steph. in Great Britain', (ibid., 71, 1935, p. 42); 'The habitat of Anoncodes melanura (L.)', (ibid., 72, 1936, pp. 41-42); and 'A note on Paratillus carus (Newman) and records of its occurrence in Britain' (ibid., 80, 1944, pp. 132-134). (MD 12/02) FITCH, Edward Arthur (23 February 1854 - 28 June 1912) Best known as a Lepidopterist; for his work on parasitic Hymenoptera much of which was carried out in collaboration with J.B. Bridgman; and for the number of obituaries which he wrote of his fellow entomologists. His publications also included one or two notes on Coleoptera including 'Granary weevils Sitophilus granarius and S. oryzae', (Ent., 12, 1879, pp. 41-50 and 298, and 'The Blue Beetle in Essex', (ibid., 17, 1884, p. 212). Gilbert (1977) lists 4 obituary notices. (MD 12/02) FITZGERALD, E.A. Gave 70 Coleoptera and other insects collected by P.H. Gosse jnr. (relative of Edmund?) in Argentina, and a further 12 Coleoptera and other insects collected by himself in La Plata to the NHM in 1899 (1899.124 and 1899.323). (MD 12/02) FITZGERALD, D. Vesey Gave 4 Coleoptera from Venezuela and many other insects to the NHM in 1934 (1934.593). (MD 12/02) FITZROY, F.H. A Commander in the Marines. Gave 38 Coleoptera and other insects collected in Cameroon to the NHM in 1919 (1919.327). (MD 12/02) FLEET, Wilfrid J. Made two gifts each of 4 Coleoptera and other insects collected from tea plants in Assam to the NHM in 1906 and 1928 (1906.60 and 1928.149). (MD 12/02) FLEMING, John (1785 - 1857) Presumably this is the Rev. J. Fleming mentioned in Stephens (1828) p.172, as the captor of Blemus paludosus in Zetland. He appears to have been friendly with Andrew Murray and perhaps accompanied him on collecting trips, for Murray (1853) p. vii, states: 'Prof. Fleming of the Free Church College, Edinburgh... and myself have more particularly worked out Fife, Perth, Kinross and Clackmannan'. Gilbert (1977) mentions an account of Fleming by A. Bryson in Trans. R. Soc. Edinburgh, 22, 1861, pp. 655-680 which I have not seen. (MD 12/02) FLETCHER, Herbert There is a small collection of Coleoptera in Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery presented by Fletcher on 1 December 1915. It has been amalgamated into the general collection. (MD 12/02) FLETCHER, James (28 March 1852 - 8 September 1908) Well known Canadian entomologist who was born in Kent before emigrating in his twenties. Almost all his publications on entomology, some half a dozen of which related to Coleoptera, were published in Canada. He died in Montreal. Gilbert (1977) lists 18 obituary and other notices, several of which include portraits. (MD 12/02) FLETCHER, John Edward (13 August 1836 - 24 February 1902) Born in Newton, Worcestershire. His obituary in EMM, 38, 1902, pp. 134-135 states that he lived in comparatively humble circumstances following the occupation of a working glover, but 'he was a man of rare intelligence, and, as his letters showed, of considerable education, albeit, probably largely self taught'. He was 'retiring and reserved in the extreme' and 'did not mix with others of similar tastes, even in his own locality'. Fletcher's interest in entomology is said to have begun when he was about 15 years old and to have remained his major concern throughout life. He worked on all orders and made numerous additions to the British fauna amongst which was the remarkable terrestrial Trichopteron Enoicyla pusilla Burm. Fletcher published nearly sixty articles, but only two related specifically to Coleoptera: 'Coccinella eating Lepidopterous ova' (EMM, 11, 1874, p. 85) and 'Food adaptability in the genus Cis' (ibid., 31, 1895, pp. 99-100), so that his major work was probably his list of the Coleoptera of Worcestershire in the VCH. Fletcher's extensive collections passed to the Museum at Worcester and I have also seen specimens bearing his name in the Blatch collection at Birmingham Museum. Apart from the obituary mentioned above there is also a notice in Proc. ESL, 1902, p.lviii (by W.W. Fowler). (MD 12/02) George Green informs me that "We recently discovered remains of his collection lost in the bowels of Worcester Museum in old cigar boxes covered with industrial grime and savaged by Museum beetle. Fortunately his labels are pretty good and we can work out his zone of activity mainly on the W side of Worcester. I understand his beetles and lepidoptera were included with other material in the museum but not the afore-mentioned cigar box Diptera, Hymenoptera, Trichoptera, etc... There is no written documentation that we can discover so far. I have been researching his history and think that he was an outstanding entomologist, reclusive, and neglected. If anyone has any reference to any papers other than the EMM and the VCH Worcestershire I should love to hear from them ()" (MD 10/03) FLETCHER, Thomas Bainbrigge (25 March 1878 - 30 April 1950) Born in Stonehouse and educated at Dulwich College. He joined the Navy and was posted as a clerk to HMS Inflexible on 15 January 1896. In March 1910 he was seconded to the Department of Agriculture of the Government of India and then took up entomology, which had previously been a hobby, professionally, being appointed in 1911 Government Entomologist in Madras. Two years later he succeeded Maxwell Lefroy as Imperial Entomologist. He was granted naval retired pay as Fleet Paymaster in November 1915. On leaving India finally in 1932 he settled at Rodborough Fort, Stroud, a Victorian castellated chateau where he became reclusive and built up extensive collections not only of insects but of books which fuelled his interest in bibliography, stamps and anything else that caught his fancy. Riley records that one room alone was devoted to copies of the Times newspaper, and that one of his eccentricities at this time, which much perturbed his visitors, was to adhere to Greenwich Mean Time year in, year out. He also notes that he was 'a man of genial disposition, a little shy yet with a ready if sometimes rather mordant wit.' Fletcher's early publications were on the Lepidoptera but after becoming a professional entomologist he was obliged to cover all the orders. His first major book was Some South Indian Insects, which was profusely illustrated following the example of Lefroy's Indian Insect Life, but with a fuller treatment of the economic aspects. During the next twenty years there followed a series of short notes on the life histories of Indian insects, on crop pests and control measures, official reports, etc. which contained much original matter and were often illustrated by Indian artists. His most comprehensive works at this time were his Keys to the Orders and Families of Indian Insects; Veterinary Entomology for India; Lists of publications on Indian Entomology; and particularly his Catalogue of Indian Insects, which ran to 25 parts most of which he compiled himself. He appears to have published little in the British press on Coleoptera. 'Lucanus cervus in Gloucestershire' in EMM, 77, 1941, p.252, being one of the few which is recorded. Fletcher gave several gifts of Coleoptera to the NHM as follows: 50 specimens and other insects from Hong Kong (1898:255); 30 specimens from Korea and Japan (1900:100); 265 specimens and many other insects from Ceylon, etc. (1910:134); 13 Staphylinidae from India (1920:142); 51 specimens from India in exchange for names (1923:285); 1 specimen from India (1925:87); 55 specimens from Switzerland(1925:481 and 1926:147); 39 specimens from Kashmir (1936:627); 6 specimens from India (1928:419); 43 specimens from Pusa (1931:447) and 297 from Kashmir (1932:13). He also gave termites to the HDO. I have seen specimens in the Pusa Institute, Delhi, marked 'TBF coll' which presumably refer to Fletcher. Harvey et al. (1996) p. 78 list an extensive collection of manuscript material associated with Fletcher in the NHM including amongst other material 800 letters to various correspondents, 22 diaries (mostly collecting data covering the period 1921-1947, and five private journals kept while serving on various ships of mainly entomological material. There are obituaries in Proc. RESL, (C) 16, 1952, pp.84-85 (by N.D. Riley); Indian J. Ent., 14, 1952, pp. 87-90 (by S.K. Sen and Y. Ramchandra Rao; includes portrait) and in ERJV, 63, 1951, p.100. (MD 12/02) FLOWER, S.S. A Major. He gave various insects including 8 Coleoptera taken in London to the NHM in 1919 (1919.15). (MD 12/02) FLOWER, Sir W. Smith (1986) p.119 records that E. Ray Lancaster purchased a weevil with a cocoon and 5 Homoptera from Madagascar, from Flower in 1894 for £4 for the HDO. To the NHM he gave various insects including 26 Coleoptera which he had collected in August 1896 in Switzerland (1896.209). (MD 12/02) FOOT, A.W. Ryan et al. (1984) p. 63, list an article by Foot entitled 'Brief notes on entomology' in Proc. Dub. Nat. Hist. Soc., 6, 1870, pp. 62-66, which mentions Coleoptera. (MD 12/02) FORAN, Charles Published 'Beetles' in Report of the Eastbourne Natural History Society, 10, 1878, p.14, and 'Notes on some of the beetles of the Cuckmere district', ibid., 12, 1880, p.16. (MD 12/02) FORBES, Edward (12 February 1815 - 17 November 1854) This is the distinquished botanist, zoologist and geologist who was at one time Professor at King's College, London and the author of many important works. He is not recorded to have had an interest in entomology but he did give 422 Coleoptera from the Levant and Asia Minor to the NHM in 1843 (1843.85) and further beetles and other insects from the Isle of Paros in 1846 (1846.14). He also gave collections of Coleoptera made by a Mr Macgillivray in New South Wales, Madeira, etc., while on a voyage on HMS Rattlesnake, to the Museum in 1848 (1848.53). (MD 12/02) FORBES, Henry Ogg (b. 1851) Published one or two articles on entomology in Scott. Nat., Nature, etc. in the 1870s and 80s, and a book A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883 in 1885. Smith (1986) p. 119, notes that Forbes gave a small collection of insects from Peru to the HDO in 1919. (MD 12/02) FORBES, William Alexander 24 June 1855 - 14 January 1883 Born at Cheltenham, the second son of J.S. Forbes, a well known railway director. Educated at Winchester and, from 1876, at St. John's College, Cambridge where he took high honours in natural science. He was particularly interested in anatomical studies, especially of birds, and succeeded to the prosectorship of the Zoological Society after the premature death of his friend Professor Garrod. His vacations were devoted to zoological expeditions and included visits to Brazil in 1880, the United States in 1881, and an extended visit to the River Niger in 1882. It was on this last trip that he caught malaria and died. Before commencing his anatomical studies in earnest Forbes was a keen entomologist with particular interests in Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. While still at school at Winchester he published two accounts of local Coleoptera in Report of the Winchester College Natural History Society, 2-3, 1873, pp. 11-16; and 3, 1377, pp. 115-121) and further notes appeared at this time in other journals including 'Supposed new Cryptocephalus' (Ent., 7, 1874, p.23); 'Cryptocephalus bipustulatus' (ibid., 112-113); 'Late appearance of Cetonia aurata' (EMM., 11, 1874, p. 208); 'Arrested development in Timarcha corriaria and Lagria hirta' (ibid., p.279); 'Note on Chrysomela marginata' (ibid., 12, 1875, p.135); and 'New species of Anisotoma' (Trans. ESL, Proc., XXIV, 1875). In 1874/75 Forbes was in Scotland and published a number of notes on the local fauna in Scott. Nat. including 'Additional localities for Scotch Coleoptera' (3, 1876, p.316). One further article, of a more general nature, which deserves mention is 'The Glacial Period and Geographical Distribution' (Nature, 19, 1879, pp. 363-364). Apart from the trips abroad mentioned above Forbes is also recorded to have made various journeys to the Alps. Most of the notes he published as a result of these visits, however, were on Lepidoptera. While at Cambridge Forbes took a prominent part in the local Entomological Society, and it was partly as a result of his efforts in organising field trips, that the fortunes of the Society were revived after a fallow period. There are obituary notices in EMM, 20, 1883, pp. 21-22; Proc. ESL, 1883, p. xlii (by J.W. Dunning); Psyche, 4, 1883, p.79; Nature, 28, 1833, p. 234; and Zool. Anz., 6, 1883, p. 256. (MD 12/02) FORD, A. (1871 - 30 May 1943) Well known Bournemouth dealer. He started collecting as a young man when living at Hastings and moved to Bournemouth in 1904 at the time of setting up his business. H.J. Turner said of him 'he was always an enthusiastic and tireless field worker and few had a wider and more varied knowledge of insects; his greatest interest, however, was always in Coleoptera, and he added many extremely rare and local species of that order to the Hampshire list' (EMM, 79, 1943, p.155). Given the nature of his business it is not surprising that specimens taken by Ford are to be found in many collections. I have seen examples in the Museum at Kelvingrove, Glasgow; the general collection at Doncaster Museum; the Kauffmann collection of Cerambycidae at Manchester; and in Bolton Museum. Of the last Hancock & Pettit (1981) note that the museum acquired three separate collections: 1. 1,500 specimens exotic worldwide; collected 1880s onward. Purchased from Ford for £5.00.(Accession no 163.06). Some specimens ex Swinhoe. Although Ford was a dealer these are said to be mainly his own specimens being disposed of due to ill health. 'Material still typical dealers' specimens from variety of usually anonymous sources'. 2. Mainly British material, from the New Forest in particular, but including some exotic Coleoptera, of c.1909 and including some Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera, in total amounting to 16,000 specimens many without locality data. 3. A collection purchased for £29 (Accession numbers 95.67, 97.68) of British Coleoptera taken in the 1890s and amounting to 7,000 specimens. In Biological Curators Group Newsletter, 3, June 1976, Hancock refers to a collection of 5,753 specimens at Bolton purchased from Ford in 1897 which 'do not now appear to exist'. This is presumably part of this third collection. Trevor James informs me that there is also Ford material in the D.G. Hall collection at Baldock, and Simon Hayhoe has informed me that there are Ford specimens in the Hall collection at Oldham. AES from 1937 until death. Member BENHS. Apart from the obituary by Turner from which a quotation is reproduced above, there is another, also by Turner, in ERJV., 55, 1943, p.70. (MD 12/02) FORD, J. Gave several hundred insects which he had collected in Africa, including 344 beetles, to the NHM in 1935 (1935.459). (MD 12/02) FORD, R. A Captain in the Army. He gave various insects including 36 Coleoptera from East Africa to the NHM (1906.201 20 specimens, 1907.168 16 specimens). (MD 12/02) FORD, W.K. Gave 123 Coleoptera which he had collected in S. Rhodesia to the NHM in 1933 (1933-380). (MD 12/02) FORDHAM, William John (23 October 1882 - 22 December 1942) Born at Hankow in China where his father, the Rev. John S. Fordham was a Methodist missionary. He was educated at King's College, Pontefract, and at Sheffield University where he trained to be a doctor of medicine, qualifying at the early age of 21. After a period of general practice in Sheffield, Fatfield in Co. Durham, and Bubwith, near Selby, he returned to Sheffield University in 1919 to take a Diploma in Public Health and subsequently took up public health appointments in Sheffield and Gateshead. In 1928 he contracted encephalitis and was obliged to retire from active life. He moved to Barmby Moor, near Pocklington, just on the borders of Allerthorpe Common, where he died fourteen years later aged sixty. Fordham was interested in most insects but his favourite orders were Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera. During his long illness he set himself the task of compiling locality lists for these orders subsequently described by G.B. Walsh as 'almost certainly the most complete lists ever compiled in Britain' (EMM, 79, 1943, p. 48). The list of Coleoptera served as the basis for the distributional information given by Joy (1932). Fordham's collecting, which was extensive particularly in Yorkshire, and his diagnostic work, were hampered by poor sight, and he relied extensively on a wide range of specialists for determinations. Fordham was recorder of Coleoptera for the Yorkshire Naturalist's Union and published many notes in the Naturalist as a result. This journal also published his list of the Hymenoptera Aculeata of Yorkshire written with Rosse Butterfield. Most of his other published material also concentrated on Yorkshire but he did write 'Insects in the Swansea area' in EMM, 62, 1926, pp. 38-39, and 'Silpha subrotunda Steph. in the Isle of Man' (ibid., 53, 1917, pp. 234-235). Fordham also acted as Secretary to the Coleoptera Committee of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union and was first President of the Wallace Entomological Club based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Fordham's collections suffered badly during the War. Peter Skidmore notes (14.8.1978) that the collections which passed to Hull Museum were destroyed at that time, and Ian Wallace tells me that the Fordham collection of Coleoptera at Liverpool (34.91), including material collected 1882-1942, was also bombed. Wallace believes that the collection must have contained a number of syntypes and paratypes. Other insects collected by Fordham still survive at Liverpool, however, as does a folder of his correspondence. Walsh implies that all Fordham's collections passed to Hull. I have also seen specimens bearing Fordham's name in the general collection at Doncaster Museum. FRES. The account by Walsh already mentioned is the only recorded obituary. (MD 12/02) FORREST, Hon. John Gave jointly with Sir William Ingham various insects including 1,071 Coleoptera to the NHM in 1907 collected by G.W.Stalker in Alexandria and Australia (1907.261). (MD 12/02) FORSAYETH The 1905 register at the NHM records a collection of insects from India including 283 Coleoptera as being left in the Entomological Department by Dr Forsayeth 'many years ago'. He gave his address as Aldershot. (MD 12/02) FORSTER, Harold W. (1908 - July 1974) Charles MacKechnie-Jarvis in an obituary notice of Forster in EMM, 1974, p.255, notes that he became an active collector of Coleoptera in 1938 and that he recorded many interesting species from Epping Forest in particular. These included most noticeably Lathridius norvegicus Strand (now L. australicus Belon) which he found in a burned out hollow beech- and which A.A. Allen described as new to Britain (ibid., 88, 1952, pp. 282-283). Among other interesting captures by Forster which MacKechnie-Jarvis notes are Spercheus emarginatus SI. from the Beccles area; Graphoderes cinereus L. from S. Essex; and Ilybius guttiger Gyll., Rhizophagus oblongicollis Blatch and Osphya bipunctata F. all from Epping Forest. There are specimens collected by Forster in the NMW. Ashley Kirk-Spriggs writes that they are 'very easily recognisable as the labels are hand-written, and edged with a narrow green border. Specimens are usually from 'Beccles' or 'Epping Forest' with additional material from localities in Surrey and elsewhere. The specimens are usually only represented by a short series in the A.E. Gardner collection, the majority having been donated to the BENHS'. After moving from Chingford to Harlow with his business, Forster apparently allowed his interest in entomology to lapse and his collection suffered from Anthrenus. The donation to BENHS, by his widow, consisted of what remained. Forster was a member of BENHS from 1939-1960. (MD 12/02) FORSTER, J.R. Thanked for help by Marsham (1802) p.xxiv. (MD 12/02) FORSYTH, Donald James Attached to the University of Bristol in 1965 when he was working on the defensive glands of Carabidae. FRES from 1966 - before 2002. (MD 3/03) FORTNUM, C.D.E. Smith (1986) p. 119 notes that Fortnum sent 'various Australian insects' to Hope (1840.5). He also gave an example of Carabus hispanus to the NHM on 8 January 1839. (Also gave Lepidoptera to NHM). (MD 12/02) FORTUNE, R. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) records that Chinese and Japanese Coleoptera were sold by Fortune at Stevens' rooms on 28 May 1858. These are presumably the same insects which Smith (1986) records as having being purchased by F.W. Hope in June 1858 and which are now in the HDO. (MD 12/02) FOSTER, G.W.C. Gave 40 Coleoptera and other insects from Uganda (Mount Elgar) to the NHM in 1934 (1934-126). (MD 12/02) FOSTER, William Gave four batches of insects including 517 Coleoptera which he had taken in Paraquay to the NHM between 1902 and 1905 (1902.282, 1903.138, 1904.251, 1905.188) Some were in exchange for determinations. Harvey et al. (1996) p.79 list two manuscripts in the NHM: a List of Coleoptera collected by the Sladen Expedition to Santa Anna da Chapada in Matto Grosso, and Central Brazil, 1903; and a list of Collections sent for determination by W. Foster from Sapuray, Paraguay, 1903. (MD 12/02) FOUNTAINE, Margaret Elizabeth (1862 - 1940) Well known Lepidopterist but did gave more than a hundred insects including 7 Coleoptera to the NHM from Africa and Madagascar in 1934 (1934-267). (MD 12/02) FOWDEN, T.E. There are Coleoptera in Oldham Museum collected in Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Surrey in the 1950s and 1960s which bear this name. (MD 12/02) FOWLER, John Henry (1856 - 11 August 1903) Best known as a Lepidopterist but he did publish notes on 'Cantharis vesicatoria at Wimborne' in Ent., 22, 1889, p. 284, and 'Carabus nitens at Wimborne and Ringwood', ibid., 24, 1891, p. 45. There is an obituary in Ent., 36, 1903, p.272. (MD 12/02) FOWLER, William Weekes (January 1849 - 3 June 1923) Son of the Reverend Hugh Fowler, Vicar of Barnwood, Gloucestershire. Educated at Rugby School and at Jesus College, Cambridge where he was a Scholar. Ordained in 1875 two years after his appointment as a Master at Repton School. In 1880 he became Headmaster of Lincoln Grammar School, a post which he held for more than twenty years before relinquishing it to become Rector of Rotherfield Peppard, near Henley, Oxfordshire. This last post he held for three years but he did not find the work sufficiently taxing and he exchanged with the Vicar of St Peters, Earley, near Reading where he was preparing to officiate at a Sunday service at the time of his death. Fowler also held a number of other offices including: Canon of Welton Brinkhall at Lincoln (1887), President of the Headmasters Association (1907), Vice President of the Linnean Society (1906-1907), Member of the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, and Member of the Reading Guardians. Fowler's interest in entomology began when he was at Repton and centred initially on the Lepidoptera of which he is said to have formed a large collection. His interests soon transferred to the Coleoptera, however, and led within a decade to his being appointed to the editorial panel of the EMM (June 1885, a post which he held for 38 years); to the publication of the first volume of the work for which he will always be best known by British entomologists The Coleoptera of the British Islands (1887-1891, 1913) and to his being appointed Secretary of the Entomological Society, a post which he held for ten years, before, in 1901, he was made President. An advertisement in Ent., 19, 1886, p. 167, makes clear that 250 copies of the large colour plate version of The Coleoptera of the British Islands were produced, limited, initially at least, to subscribers, but also that Messers Power, Sharp, Mason and Champion acted as "referees". The first five volumes were produced in monthly parts price 3s plain and 5s coloured, most containing 4 plates and a variable number of pages of text. The only breaks in this sequence were in September 1887 when the publishers regretted "that the artist has been unable to finish the plates in time for this month's issue. Additional letterpress is therefore given instead", and in August 1888 when a double part price 6s plain and 10s coloured was issued. The only copy of the work of which I know into which the part covers have been bound is that in the NHM. (Mr Ernest Lewis has written to tell me that he remembers many years ago seeing another copy in its original parts in the library of the Passmore Edwards Museum, Stratford, London E.17). Because the parts were stamped by the librarian with the dates on which they were received one can trace the chronology of publication very clearly. Receipt of the sixth, supplementary volume, on which Donisthorpe also worked, was recorded on 8 April 1913 as one work. The Coleoptera lists two more genera and fifty more species than appear in H.E. Cox's Handbook, published some thirteen years earlier. Fowler also took on several other onerous works as an author including the introductory volume and account of the Cicindelidae and Paussidae of the Fauna of British India series; a contribution to the Genera Insectorum on the Languriidae, and, most ambitiously, he dealt with all the Homopterous insects except the Cicadidae, Fulgoridae, Coccidae and Aleurodidae for Godman and Salvin's Biologia Centrali-Americana. This last took him fifteen years between 1894 and 1909. His notes on Coleoptera in the journals started with 'Harpalus tenebrosus at Bridlington' in EMM, 15, 1878, p. 134, and stretched to more than 150, including a number of obituaries of eminent Coleopterists, before his death. Finally, as far as Fowler's publications are concerned, the two Catalogues of the British fauna which he compiled with A. Matthews in 1883 and with D. Sharp in 1893 should also be noticed, the last being an updated version of Sharp's earlier lists of 1871 and 1883. G.J. Arrow said of Fowler: 'In his small and apparently delicate frame Fowler held a great store of vitality and an apparently inexhaustible appetite for hard work, notwithstanding which he was by no means a hard taskmaster to those under him, and by his invariably cheerful and amiable disposition never failed to win popularity and esteem from his pupils and associates of every kind. Although possessed of little critical power or gift for origination, he had a taste for the not usually attractive labour of collating and tabulating the records of others' results and a readiness to undertake toil from which other men turned away which led him sometimes into fields for which his qualifications were not apparent. Entomology has reason for gratitude to him for much useful spadework, and, to all who study British Beetles, his principal achievement, the Coleoptera of the British Islands, is the indispensable starting-point for any fresh advance, and is not likely soon to be superseded' (Ent., 722, July 1923, p.170). One interesting fact about Fowler's entomological education which must also have had a considerable influence on his working method, particularly when compiling the Coleoptera of the British Islands, is mentioned by Charles MacKechnie-Jarvis in his 1975 BENHS Presidential Address: 'about 1879 Canon Fowler, then a schoolmaster at Repton... developed a purposeful interest in Coleoptera. Realising perhaps that time was not on his side, he established a close contact with the Powers and was thus able to draw extensively on the Doctor's knowledge of our Fauna. For a period Fowler had apartments in the house next door to the Powers as a pied-a-terre for use on his many trips from Lincoln, and this house, no 83 Ashburnham Road, Bedford, was the wartime HQ of the 5th Beds. Battalion of the Home Guards. "And who", asked Miss Power of me on one occasion, "was the young clergyman we always had in the house? My mother said that she thought that he did most of his collecting in my father's cabinets".' Fowler's collection, with other material, is preserved at Nottingham. Other specimens collected by him in Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Solway are to be found in the Hall collection at Oldham Museum (Information from Simon Hayhow). Gilbert (1977) lists eight obituary and other notices and there is a ninth in Trans. RESL, C, 1923, p. cxi. Of these J.J. Walker in EMM, 59, 1923, pp. 150-152, G.J. Arrow in Ent., 56, 1923, p. 170 and H.J. Donisthorpe in Nature, Lond. III, 1923, p. 388 are probably the most useful. (MD 12/02) FOX, Frederick Published several notes on Scymnus pulchellus which he found abundantly in Suffolk in the mid 1890s. (EMM, 31, 1895, pp. 75 and 174; Naturalists Journal, 3, p. 20; Science Gossip, 1, 1894, p. 116). Mentioned by Morley (1899). (MD 12/02) FOX, G.T. A Reverend. Gave 79 beetles and other insects to the NHM in 1911 (1911-143). (MD 12/02) FOX, J. Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1860, p. 15, as interested in British Coleoptera and Lepidoptera. His address is given as Rawson Street, New Basford, nr. Nottingham. (MD 12/02) FOX, J.H. Published 'Water Beetles' in Science Gossip, 1886/7, p. 183. (MD 12/02) FOX, J. Leedes See FOX, William Leeds. FOX, Kenneth John (1936 - 1 February 1986) Born in Catford and educated at Cambridge University and Charing Cross Hospital where he graduated in medicine in 1961. He married Margaret Bull, a New Zealander, in London, and then moved to Manaia, Taranaki, New Zealand in 1963 where he quickly established his practice. Fox is best known in New Zealand as a Lepidopterist but he did become interested in Coleoptera later in life and did extensive collecting particularly in the Taranaki (then Mount Egmont) National Park. There is an obituary in New Zealand Entomologist, 10, 1987, p.154 (I am grateful to Eric Gowing Scopes for bringing this to my attention). (MD 12/02) FOX, Miss M. Smith (1986) p. 120 records that she gave insects of various groups from Pa-Ta-Ch'u, Western Hills, 12 miles W. of Peking to the HDO in 1926. (MD 12/02) FOX, William Leeds Recorded in Ent. Ann., 1860, p. 15 as being interested in Coleoptera and living at Harleston in Norfolk. He gave six beetles to the NHM in 1861 (1861.130) and is presumably the J. Leedes Fox recorded in Hagen (1862) p.246, as publishing 'A list of the rares [sic] species of Coleoptera which occur, or have been taken in the neighbourhood of Harleston, Norfolk and in the neighbourhood of Bungary [sic] by W. Garness [sic]' in Naturalist, 8, 1858, pp. 16-18, 87-89, 160-161. (MD 12/02) FOX-WILSON, G. See WILSON, G. FOX FOXCROFT, James Mentioned in Cabinet of British Entomology, 1854. Presumably the same Foxcroft from whom the NHM purchased 700 insects in 1850 and 1852 including 32 Coleoptera (1850.129) and a further 222 specimens collected in Wales and Scotland (1852.122). He also gave Pyrochroa larvae to the Museum (1852.42). (MD 12/02) FOY, H. Andrew A Doctor. Gave insects including Coleoptera from Northern Nigeria to the NHM between 1909 and 1915 (1909.209,1910.44 and 1915.399). (MD 12/02) FRANCILLON, John (1744-1818) Charles Mackechnie-Jarvis, when compiling his 'A History of the British Coleoptera' in Proc. BENHS, 1976, p.99, was in touch with surviving descendants of the family and notes that Francillon descended from a Huguenot refugee silk weaver Francois Francillon who settled in Spitalfields at the end of the 17th century. He includes a family tree, and further notes that Francillon was married three times and left two daughters but no male descendants. His statement that Francillon practised as a physician, however, was taken from Hagen and is a mistake; Francillon was, in fact, a jeweller.) Francillon built up large collections of British and foreign insects which were described by Charles Lyall, the botanist, as 'the largest in the world'. Chalmers-Hunt (1976) records that they were sold in three batches on 27-28 May 1817, 25-26 July 1817 and 11-13 June 1818, the last sale including the foreign insects and spiders. Purchasers included the NHM, J.F. Stephens, J. Curtis, (Stephens (1828) p. 76), W. Kirby and F.W. Hope. Of the last Smith (1986) p. 120, states 'An undetermined Prionid beetle in Longicorn cabinet 2, dr.36, bears a label in Westwood's handwriting 'This letter F. is in Kirby's handwriting & stands for Francillon at the sale of whose collection it was bought'; this is the first specimen to be definitely identified as out of the Francillon collection, although there should be others'. She also notes that Francillon's Catalogue of 'Labels for Cabinet of the names of insects described by Fabricius' is in HDO Library. The sale of Francillon's insects is said by several authors to have been the first auction sale devoted entirely to insects. Hagen (1862) notes that Francillon wrote a 'Description of a rare Scarabaeus (Sc. macropus) from Potosi in South America' in 1795 published in Shaw, The Naturalists Miscellany, 1799, with a coloured plate, but I have not seen this. Francis Griffin, 'The first Entomological Societies, an Early Chapter in Entomological History in England' in Proc. RESL, series A, 15, September 1940, p.51, notes that Francillon's name appears in the minute book of the Society of Entomologists of London, which lasted from 1780-1782, as one of the members. Interestingly, the RESL purchased a MSS 'Catalogue of John Francillon's Cabinet of Insects and Other Memorandums. A Copy of Articles belonging to an Aurelain Society. AD 1780' in 1937 which refers to this Society. Surprisingly Francillon's name does not appear amongst the list of members of Haworth's Aurelian Society, the direct precursor of the Entomological Society, which flourished from 1801-1805. (MD 12/02) FRANCIS, Horace Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1860 as being interested in British Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. His address is given as 38 Upper Bedford Place, London WC. This is presumably the same collector that Chalmers-Hunt (1976) notes as selling Hemiptera and Coleoptera at Stevens' rooms in 1894-1895 (Coleoptera on 29 May 1894). (MD 12/02) FRANCIS, R.B. A Reverend. Listed as a subscriber to Denny (1825) and mentioned by Marsham (1802) pp. xxiii and 343. (MD 12/02) FRASER This name appears on Coleoptera in the general collection at Cambridge. (MD 12/02) FRASER, Mr The NHM purchased more than two hundred beetles from N. Africa from him in the 1840s as follows: 141 from Tunis (1846.103) £50.14; 12 plus other insects from N. Africa (1847.10); 20 plus other insects from Tangier (1847.107) £51.8; and 3 plus other insects from Tunis (1848.23). (MD 12/02) FRASER, A.D. A Major. Gave more than 50 Coleoptera Collected in Mesopotamia, Palestine and W. Africa to NHM between 1921 and 1927 (1921.257, 1922.219, 1923.471, 1927.385). (MD 12/02) FRASER, F.C. (15 February 1880 - 2 March 1963) Well known worker on Dragonflies. While stationed in India where he was a doctor and surgeon in the army he collected more than 400 beetles which he gave to the NHM between 1923 and 1934 (1923.345, 1925.223, 1925.452, 1926.465, 1926.496, 1934.638). There is a collection of manuscript material in the NHM including 70 letters to A.E. Gardner and 20 from him to Fraser, c.1949-1958. There is an obituary in EMM., 99, 1963, p.96 including a portrait. (MD 12/02) FRASER, G. de C. (1882 - 22 November 1952) I am grateful to Dr Raymond Uhthoff-Kaufmann who has written to me about Fraser (and his son Michael, see below) whom he knew well many years ago, as follows: 'A very well-known and keen Lepidopterist who bred and raised many local species - macro- and micro- - at his house in Formby. He was also very interested in Coleoptera, of which he had a large collection in his numerous cabinets, including the late R. Wilding's, which he had recently purchased in the 1940s ... Mr Fraser Sen., his wife and daughter were very generous hosts, whom I met on a number of occasions at their home; the two latter were also very keen entomologists and insect photographers. Fraser, pere was founder and President of the Raven Entomological and Natural History Society, begun in 1946...'. There is an account of Fraser in Underwood (1996) pp. 89-95. Mainly concerned with his work on Lepidoptera but does mention ‘his very comprehensive collection of Coleoptera [which was] always available for reference purposes’. Fraser’s brother, Robert, who was eight years his senior was also a keen collector. Member of the BENHS. (MD 3/03) FRASER, J.M. Collections of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera made by him were sold after his death at Stevens on 11-12 July 1887. (MD 12/02) FRASER, Michael G. Son of G de C. Fraser (see above). Dr Uhthoff-Kaufmann writes: 'Squadron Leader. We first met in 1944, corresponded regularly for some years and collected (together with the late Evelyn Duffy - another friend of mine) in Formby, Lancs., Flintshire and Jodrell Hall, Ches. (where I then lived). Michael Fraser ... was a very dedicated Coleopterist who discovered inter alia, Arhopalus tristis in old pine stumps in the dunes near his home in Formby. He also spent much time searching the timber yards of the Liverpool Docks for foreign Coleoptera and their larvae which he raised in a special heated cage he invented, and especially, Plagionotus arcuatus in numbers, which he liberated when mature in suitable habitats in the hope of re-establishing the species in this country. Besides his important papers on S. scalaris [EMM., 86, 1950, pp.33-36 and 73] quoted in extenso by E.A.J.Duffy in his monumental Opus (1953), he also wrote interesting notes on Ergates and Trinophylum cribratum. I regret to say that I lost touch with him and his wife in the early 1950s'. Cermbycidae collected by Fraser are in the Kauffmann Collection and the General Collection at Manchester. (MD 12/02) FREEMAN, Miss C. Maiden name of Mrs Garneys. She is mentioned in the Ent. Ann., 1865, p. 40 and by Morley (1899) pp. 81, 85 and iv. (MD 12/02) FREEMAN, D. A Doctor. Mentioned by Johnson & Halbert (1902) p. 542. (MD 12/02) FREKE, P.E. Mentioned by Johnson & Halbert (1902) p. 542. (MD 12/02) FRENCH, Charles (10 September 1840 - 21 May 1933) Well known Australian entomologist who was born in Lewisham but emigrated and lived in Melbourne where he was on the staff of the Botanic Garden. According to The Leader (Melbourne), 18 January 1879, French started collecting in 1868 and by 1879 had amassed 8000 native specimens and also foreign material eg. Japanese. (I am grateful to my wife for this reference). His publications were particularly based on insects as pests. He gave 55 Coleoptera from Melbourne to Norwich in 1892 and a further 14 specimens to the NHM in 1910 (1910-297). Gilbert (1977) lists 5 obituaries. (MD 12/02) FREWIN, G. Leslie (b. 1902 - d. 2000?) I am grateful to Andrew Duff who has supplied me with a copy of the following note written by Mr Frewin: 'Born 1902 Scotland. 1916 met my mother's cousin J.H. Keys a well known Devonshire Coleopterist. He fired me with enthusiasm and gave me 50 duplicates to start me off. Lived Edinburgh 1907-1934, Inverness 1934-1962 where I collected in various terrains in Nairn, Elgin, Inverness, Aberdeen, Ross and Cromarty. Met Prof Balfour Browne and D.H. Kevan both of whom gave me much help in naming my specimens. Retired 1962 to Tatworth, Chard and moved into Chard 1988. Collected in Somerset and Dorset mostly. Had to give up in 1983 owing to arthritis'. Frewin published three notes in the EMM, 'Octhebius lenensis Popp. in E. Ross and E. Inverness' (89, 1953, p. 32); 'Otiorrhynchus porcatus Hbst in Inverness' (92, 1956, p. 146) and 'Stenus simillimus Berwick in Dorset' [second British record] (104, 1968, p.134). (MD 12/02) Duff (1993), p.6, notes that Frewin "was practically the only active coleopterist in Somerset from 1968-1975... . Most of Frewin's microcoleoptera were identified by Colin Johnson... while other material was confirmed by D.K. Kevan. His fine collection, which also contains much European material, is housed at his present home in Chard, where he has lived since 1988. A set of filing cards accompanies the collection... A few additional records originate from a storebox of duplicate and unnamed material examined by the writer." (MD 10/03) Leslie Frewin died a few years ago, aged 98(?) (AGD pers. comm. from Frewin's son). His collection was sold to Laurie Christie who has also since died. Unfortunately none of Laurie Christie's collections are currently accessible or are likely ever to be as they are in the hands of a reclusive relative. Andrew Duff retained the card index which went with Frewin's collection. (Andrew Duff 12/02) FR(I?)END, Benjamin Gave various gifts of Coleoptera to the NHM in the 1840s and 1850s including: 3 Carabus (1844.53); a Lucanus from China (1845.39); 3 Carabus lusitanicus from Lisbon (1846.3); 4 beetles from Spain (1846.80) and 166 from Palermo (1857.154). Other gifts indicate that he also visited India. (MD 12/02) FRIPP, Henry Edward (1816 - 1892) West country entomologist who published in the period 1869-1879 a number of articles on insect sight and ability to detect sound. An earlier article in Popular Science Review, 5, 1866, pp.314-326 dealt with the light emission by the Glow worm. Gilbert (1977) mentions an obituary notice and bibliography in Proc. Bristol Soc. Nat. Hist., 7, 1892, pp.1-3, which I have not seen. (MD 10/03) FRISBY, G.E. There are specimens bearing this name in the F.T. Grant collection in the HDO (information from James Hogan). (MD 10/03) FROGGATT, J.L. Gave 12 Coleoptera which he had collected in the Soloman Islands and N. Guinea to the NHM in 1934 (1934.644) and a further 53 specimens three years later (1937.392). (MD 12/02) FROST, C.A. Gave 21 Coleoptera including 6 paratypes from N. America to the NHM in 1925 (1925.144). (MD 12/02) FROST, G.J. Listed by Cowley (1947) as interested in Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera. His address is given as 17 Crofton Road, Ipswich. Is this perhaps the same Frost who published articles on insects collected in Ipswich in Trans. City Lond. Nat. Hist. Soc., 1896, pp.18-20. (MD 12/02) FROST, J. Published 'Water Beetles and Light reflected by Glass' in Ent., 16, 1883, p.286. (MD 12/02) FRY, Alexander (10 September 1821 - 26 February 1905) Born at Pencraig, Herefordshire. He entered his father's mercantile business in Rio de Janeiro where he lived from 1838 until moving back to this country in 1854. During this period he made only one return visit to England, in 1843, when he was married. Fry was an enthusiastic Coleopterist specialising in Cerambycidae and Curculionidae in particular. He not only did a considerable amount of collecting himself but also added to his collections through purchases. Thus, he acquired Parry's collection of Cerambycids, large numbers of specimens collected by Doherty, Wallace and others, and most importantly, Whitehead's specimens from Kinabalu including all the types described by H.W. Bates. After his death his collection, amounting to some 200,000 specimens, passed to the NHM. An earlier donation, of 315 beetles from Brasil, was made in 1857 (1857.19; his address was given as West Green Lodge, Tottenham), and another 200 specimens were acquired by Liverpool Museum, via Cheltenham College, before 1880. Fry published only one note of which I am aware, an Observation on Fireflies, written with W.T. Evans, in Trans. ESL, (3)2, Proc., 1865, pp. 101-102. He did not become involved in descriptive work but made his collections, housed in his home at Norwood, freely available to others, so that they are frequently mentioned in monographs, etc. (e.g. Fowler and Arrow's volumes in the FBI series). There are obituaries in EMM, 41, 1905, p. 119 and Trans. ESL, C, 1905, p.lxxxvi. (MD 12/02) FRYER, Charles Listed in the Ent. Ann., 1860, p. 15, as interested in British Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. His address is given as 83 Rumford St., Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester. (MD 12/02) FRYER, Herbert Fortescue (1854-1930) Born at the Manor House, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire. A man of wide-ranging accomplishments he was a good field naturalist, a talented musician, an athelete, and much involved in public work in the Isle of Ely both as a magistrate and as a County Councillor. Fryer's parents and his uncle, the botanist Daniel Fryer, were all collectors of butterflies, and it is not, therefore, surprising that his initial entomological interests were with the Lepidoptera, his first recorded capture being made in 1868. His serious interest in Coleoptera, and also to some extent in Hemiptera-Heteroptera and Homoptera, appears not to have begun until 1905 and may have been stimulated by his son J.C.F. Fryer. Certainly this is the date from which captures are recorded in the well known articles on 'Coleoptera in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire' which they wrote jointly in EMM, 49, 1913, pp. 246-250, 266-268; 50, 1914, 10-13, 85-88, 109-111, although there is also mention of some species having been taken between 1879 and 1882, and Herbert did write two notes on Coleoptera at this time in the Ent.: 'Phaedon betulae, the Blue Beetle', 14, 1881, pp. 44-45, and 'Atomaria linearis a Mangold enemy', 15, 1882, p.138. Not just this list but almost all the other articles which he wrote on the Coleoptera at this time were published jointly with his son. These included the addition of a number of species to the British list e.g. Bledius denticollis, taken at Nethy Bridge before David Sharp brought forward the insect as British on the basis of his capture at Inverness (EMM, 45, 1909, p.6); Anthicus bifasciatus from old manure heaps at Chatteris; (ibid., 50, 1914, pp. 84-85); Sitona gemellatus also from the Chatteris area (ibid., 59, 1923, pp.80-81); Lygus rubicundus and Grypotes pinetellus. Some of these insects were given at the time to the NHM by J.C.F. and it is tempting to surmise that he should really be credited with their capture, however, in his obituary of his father in EMM, 66, 1930, p.114, J.C.F. specifically credits him with their capture. FES 1876-1921. (MD 12/02) FRYER, J.C.F. Son of Herbert Fortescue Fryer and did much of his early entomological work with his father as is clear from their many joint publications (see above). Fryer was a botanist by profession becoming Director of the Plant Pathological Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture. He did publish a number of notes on Coleoptera (and other orders) in his own right including Ceuthorhynchidius pulvinatus Gyll in EMM, 65, 1929, pp. 64-65; 'Brachypterolus vestitus, Kies in Britain' ibid., pp. 101-102; 'A variety of Philonthus laminatus Creutz', ibid., 68, 1932, pp. 187-188 (found in his father's collection which he presumably inherited); 'The Colorado Beetle', ibid., 70, 1934, pp. 116-117, and 'Time of flight of beetles of the genus Agriotes', ibid., 77, 1941, p. 280. There is a general collection of insects apparently made by Fryer in Ceylon in the Cambridge Museum dated 28 November 1912; and he gave two gifts of insects to the NHM (1914.112 and 1916.231) which included some of the specimens described by his father and himself as new to Britain. FES. (MD 12/02) FRYER, Rowland J. Published 'Rhizotragus solstitialis at Hackness' in Naturalist, 1897, p. 370. (MD 12/02) FULLAGER, James Published a number of notes on insects including 'Notes on Hydrophilus piceus' in Science Gossip, 15, 1879, pp. 132-133. (MD 12/02) FULLER, Claude One of a number of entomologists who collected insects including Coleoptera on behalf of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology in Africa, Australia, and Java which were subsequently given to the NHM (1915.393 and 1916.193). (MD 12/02) FULTON, H.B. Gave 120 Coleoptera from Transvaal to the NHM in 1897 (1897.205). (MD 12/02) FURLONG, Alfred R. Mentioned in Dawson (1856) p. 46 as the captor of an example of Eurynebria complanata at Arklow sands. Johnson & Halbert (1902) pp. 536-537 note that the lists of Dublin beetles which A.R. Hogan published (Natural History Review, 1, 1853/4, pp. 32-34, 88-91, 98-101, not the Zoo. as they state) was comprised largely of records provided by A.H. Haliday and Furlong. They also note that MS notes kept by Furlong passed to Dr E.P. Wright, and that he had a copy of J.F. Stephens, Manual, with marginal notes by Furlong on localities. Ryan et al. (1984) list Furlong as having published the 'First Supplement to the Catalogue of the Coleoptera found in the Neighbourhood of Dublin' in Natural History Review, 3, 1856, pp. 72-73, sometimes ascribed to Hogan. (MD 12/02) Last updated: 17 December 2003 |