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:
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| Name | Dates | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. 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. Max Barclay has said of this collection ‘[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.’ 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, 10/03)) | |
| EASTON, E.A. | Gave 22 Coleoptera from Canada to the NHM in 1948 (1948.424). I assume this is a mis print in the Register for A.E.Easton (QV)(MD 10/02) | ||
| EATON, Alfred Edwin | 1845 - 1929 | Museum 35 Coleoptera collected by Eaton as a member of the Transit of Venus Expedition (1876.43). There are various drawings, notebooks, diaries, etc. kept by Eaton in the RESL (See list in Pedersen, 2002, pp.43-44) and an obituary by F.W. Edwards in Ent., 62, 1929, pp.167-68. (MD 10/02, 11/09) | |
| 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) |