Antwerp Edgar Pratt

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(6 March 1852 - 4 January 1924) was a Victorian naturalist, explorer, author, and renowned collector of plants, insects, and other animals.

Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

named for Pratt include three mammals and two reptiles. Two of his sons and a nephew were also collectors.

Biography

Pratt was born on 6 March 1852 on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

in England to Charles, a grocer, and Ann Pratt. He had two elder siblings, Florence and Vienna. He married Alice Mary Spanner in 1882 and they had six children, four sons and two daughters. Felix Pratt and Charles Pratt followed their father and became successful insect collectors. His other sons Henry and Joseph also made important contributions to science. He was a member of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

and in 1891 he received the Gill Memorial Award for the encouragement of geographical research in early career researchers who have shown great potential. In the same year he visited

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and China. In China his activities were treated with suspicion and notices were posted warning locals of assisting him. He made some progress by employing Chinese Christians. These employees were harassed by the locals and his German assistant had to retreat from his work. Whilst he was in Tatsienlu in China he met and was assisted by the French missionaries and naturalists Bishop Felix Biet and Father Jean André Soulié. In 1892 he published an account of his journey "to the snows of Tibet through China". This book is thought to show that Pratt did not actually get to Tibet but he only got close enough to meet the missionaries who had been ejected from the country. Incidentally Pratt's book is thought to be a source for the work of

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

. He died in 1924 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, aged 71.

Expeditions

A.E. Pratt, 1906. Introduction to ''Two Years among New Guinea Cannibals''.

Benefactors

Antwerp Edgar Pratt and his sons travelled and collected specimens on behalf of a number of prominent people including the English entomologists

John Henry Leech John Henry Leech (5 December 1862 – 29 December 1900) was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. His collections from China, Japan, and Kashmir are in the Natural History Museum, London. These also contain inse ...

, Sir

George Hamilton Kenrick Sir George Hamilton Kenrick FRES (1850 – 28 May 1939) was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera especially those of New Guinea. He was a prominent liberal educationist and was a councillor in Birmingham. Life Kenrick was bor ...

and

James John Joicey James John Joicey FES (28 December 1870 – 10 March 1932) was an English amateur entomologist, who assembled an extensive collection of Lepidoptera in his private research museum, called the Hill Museum, in Witley, Surrey. His ...

as well as

Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was presen ...

Collections

Birmingham Museums Trust Birmingham Museums Trust is the largest independent charitable trust of museums in the United Kingdom. It runs nine museum sites across the city of Birmingham, including Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) and Thinktank, Birmingham Science ...

holds substantial natural history collections gathered by A. E. Pratt and his sons.

Species named after Pratt

* Pratt's roundleaf bat ''Hipposiderous pratti,'' 1891 *

Pratt's vole Pratt's vole (''Eothenomys chinensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is endemic to Mount Emei, Sichuan, China. It was named in 1891 for Antwerp Edgar Pratt. References

*Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfami ...

(Alt. the Sichuan Red-backed Vole) ''Eothenomys chinensis,'' 1891 * Pratt's crabapple '' Malus prattii'' 1895 * Pratt's snail eater '' Dipsas pratti,'' 1897Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Pratt", p. 211). * Pratt's rocket frog ''

Colostethus pratti ''Colostethus pratti'' is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is found in the northwestern Colombia ( Antioquia, Chocó, Córdoba, and Risaralda Departments) and Panama, possibly also in southeastern Costa Rica. It is sometimes kn ...

'', 1899 * ''

Sphenomorphus pratti ''Sphenomorphus pratti'' is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Geographic range ''S. pratti'' is found throughout Papua New Guinea except in savanna areas in the south. It is also ...

'', 1903. www.reptile-database.org. * Pratt's tree frog ''

Litoria pratti ''Litoria pratti'', commonly known as Pratt's tree frog, is a species of frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. It is endemic to the Vogelkopf Peninsula, West Papua (region), West Papua, Indonesia, where the type series was collected. There are no ...

'', 1911 *

Green acouchi The green acouchi (''Myoprocta pratti'') is a species of rodent in the acouchi genus, part of the family Dasyproctidae. It is found in western Amazon biome, Amazonia, west of the Rios Rio Negro (Amazon), Negro and Madeira River, Madeira, in north ...

''Myoprocta pratti,'' 1913 *

Ceram bandicoot The Seram bandicoot (''Rhynchomeles prattorum''), also known as the Seram Island long-nosed bandicoot, is a member of the order (biology), order Peramelemorphia that is endemic to the island of Seram in Indonesia. It is the only species in the ge ...

''Rhynchomeles prattorum,'' 1920 (Named for his sons) * Buru opalescent birdwing butterfly ''

Troides prattorum ''Troides prattorum'', the Buru Opalescent Birdwing, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is endemic to Buru in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It is commercially bred, but supplies of this butterfly are sporadic, so it is ...

,'' 1922 * ''

Delias pratti ''Delias pratti'' is a species of butterfly in the family Pieridae. The type was described by George Hamilton Kenrick in 1909. It is found in Papua New Guinea, the type location is the Foja Mountains. The wingspan is about 50 mm. The forew ...

,'' 1922

Publications

*Pratt, A.E. (1892)
''To the Snows of Tibet through China''
London: Longmans. *Pratt, A.E. (1906)
''Two Years among New Guinea Cannibals, a Naturalists Sojourn among the Aborigines of Unexplored New Guinea''
London: Seeley & Co.

References

External links

*Joicey J, Talbot G (1924).
The Bulletin of the Hill Museum
Volume 1. 1921-1924.'' London: John Bale & Sons. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Antwerp Edgar 1852 births 1920 deaths People from the Isle of Wight English naturalists Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society