Biographical dictionary
The Biographical Dictionary of British Coleopterists was compiled by the late Michael Darby. The Dictionary can be accessed below, and see also the additional information provide by Michael:
The filter boxes below can be used to find individual entries or groups of entries in the table. You can filter by surname (enter a single letter to see all names beginning with that letter, or enter the first part of a particular surname), or by any part of the full name, or you can filter the main biographical text. You can use the filters in combination, e.g. to search for both a name and some biography text at the same time. Don't forget to click on the Apply button to make your filter work. To remove your filter, delete the text you typed in and then click "Apply" again.
| Name | Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAVIDSON, Noel | Collected Lepidoptera and Coleoptera in Siam with his wife. 80 of the beetles were acquired by the NHM in 1948 (1948.412). (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIDSON, William F. | Mineralogist who lived at Penrith. Published notes on Lepidoptera and Odonata and two notes about beetles: ‘Notes on Cumberland and Westmorland Coleoptera’ in EMM., 97, 1961, pp.15-21 and ‘Necrophorus interruptus Steph. in Cumberland’, ibid., p.264. The former runs to more than a hundred and twenty specimens. In it he mentions collecting with Harry Britten shortly before his death and with the late W.A.North. Help in identification was provided by F.H.Day (see below). Eric Gowing Scopes has sent me a photocopy of part of a letter from Davidson in his possession which gives more information about his activities: ‘My role was a very menial one, though I did add several species to the County list. I was fortunate in finding Leistus montanus at three localities of much lower elevation than the original ‘summit of Skiddaw’. Two of these were on mine wash heaps which I was disturbing when seeking minerals.’ ‘This was due to the coincidence of a mineralogist being interested in entomology. I think it proves that many things are overlooked in the sphere of entomological recording! One of the localities for L. montanus was at about six hundred feet above sea level and in the Penrith Sandstone area of the Cumbrian plain.’ ‘Half of my collection of beetles was given to the Hancock Museum at Newcastle and the remainder to Liverpool Museum, where the existing collections were destroyed by war time bombing’. Hancock and Pettit (1981) note that the Hancock Museum acquired the specimens in exchange for fossils on 20 December 1963, and that they occupied 27 store boxes. Davidson's material was amalgamated into the general collection by Elsie Miller. Simon Hayhow tells me that there are also specimens collected by Davidson in the Oldham Museum. Davidson was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. (MD 5/02) A forthcoming book by Michael P. Cooper, Robbing the Sparry Garniture. A History of British Mineral Dealers, 1750-1950, contains information about his mineral dealing activities partly based on conversations which the author had with Davidson before his death. (MD 10/03) | ||
| DAVIE | Mentioned by Marsham (1802) in connection with Chrysomela rufitarsis (p.182) and Dytiscus inaequalis (p.417). (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIES, David | Published ‘Aulonium trisulcum (Fourc.) in Wales’ in EMM., 113, 1977, p.78. This was the first Welsh record. (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIES, E. | Gave 14 Coleoptera from Mexico and North Borneo to the NHM in April 1908 (1908.136). Listed with the same address as G. Davies below. (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIES, G. | Gave a Cerambycid from Khasi Hills, Assam to the NHM in May 1907 (1907.164) and another beetle from Bitie, W. Africa in March 1908 (1908.66). He gave his address in 1907 as Walcot, Addiscombe Road, Croydon. See E. Davies above. (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIES, H.G. | Specimens bearing this name are in the K.C.Lewis collection. (MD 12/06) | ||
| DAVIES, John Henry | An Artillery Officer from Portsmouth. Published short notes on insect periodicity and instinct in Mag. Nat. Hist., 1, 1828, pp.332-34 and 3, 1830, pp.247-48. (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIES, M.J. | Listed in Cowley (1948) as interested in Coleoptera, especially Geodephaga. His address at that time was Surbiton Hill Park, Surbiton, Surrey. Subsequent addresses have been in High Wycombe and Orpington, Kent. He published three articles on Carabids in EMM., ‘Amara montivaga Sturm in Surrey’ (86, 1950,p.326), ‘The contents of the crops of some British Carabid beetles’ (89,1953, pp.18-23) and ‘Feeding behaviour of some Amara spp.’ (89, 1953, pp.18-23). He was attached to Imperial College and to the Bureau of Animal Population, Botanic Garden, Oxford. BENHS from 1965. (MD 5/02) | ||
| DAVIES, Michael | Published ‘A contribution to the ecology of species of Notiophilus and allied genera’ in EMM., 95, 1959, pp.25-28; ‘The larvae of some British Notiophilus’, ibid., 99, 1963, pp.206-209; and Tortrix castana, Schiff and Ceuthorhynchus assimilis (Payk.) on Cardaria draba L.’, ibid., 100, 1964, p.206. The first two of these articles were based on work done for a postgraduate thesis at Oxford. He has also written about laboratory techniques. (MD 5/02) |