Arthur Dendy (20 January 1865, in Manchester – 24 March 1925, in London) was an English zoologist known for his work on marine sponges and the terrestrial invertebrates of Victoria, Australia, notably including the "living fossil" '' Peripatus''. He was in turn professor of zoology in New Zealand, in South Africa and finally at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He was a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Family life

Dendy's parents were John Dendy, a silk fabric maker of Manchester, and Sarah Beard, daughter of John Relly Beard. His sisters included

Mary Dendy Mary Dendy (28 January 1855 – 9 May 1933) was a promoter of residential schools for mentally handicapped people, i.e. institutionalisation. Dendy was the driving force that established a colony for the "feeble-minded". Dendy believed in separate ...

and

Helen Bosanquet Helen Bosanquet (''née'' Dendy; 10 February 1860 – 7 April 1925) was an English social theorist, social reformer, and economist concerned with poverty, social policy, working-class life, and modern social work practices. Helen worked closely ...

. He married Ada Margaret Courtauld on 5 December 1888. They had four children, three daughters—including the artist Vera Ellen Poole (1890–1965)—and one son.

Career

Britannica 1911 Arthropoda - Peripatus head

He was educated in zoology at

Owens College Owens may refer to: Places in the United States *Owens Station, Delaware *Owens Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota *Owens, Missouri *Owens, Ohio *Owens, Virginia People * Owens (surname), including a list of people with the name * Owens Bro ...

, Manchester, gaining his M.Sc. in 1887 and his D.Sc. in 1891. He worked on part of the report of the

Challenger expedition The ''Challenger'' expedition of 1872–1876 was a scientific program that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, . The expedition, initiated by Wil ...

(1872–1876), describing monaxonid sponges. In 1888 he moved to the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

as demonstrator and assistant lecturer. There he identified and described almost 2000 specimens of sponges from the sea near Port Phillip Heads. This work led to ten scientific papers on Australian sponges; he described 87 new species of sponge. Eventually Dendy became a leading authority on the sponge phylum, (

Porifera Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through th ...

), which he extensively restructured. Dendy was the first zoologist to study the terrestrial invertebrates of Victoria, Australia. This work led to 16 scientific papers and 79 new species. These included terrestrial flatworms (

planarian A planarian is one of the many flatworms of the traditional class Turbellaria. It usually describes free-living flatworms of the order Tricladida (triclads), although this common name is also used for a wide number of free-living platyhelmint ...

s) and

nemertea Nemertea is a phylum of animals also known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms, consisting of 1300 known species. Most ribbon worms are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many h ...

ns, but the most famous of his animals was the so-called "living fossil" '' Peripatus''. In 1893, Dendy became professor of biology at

Canterbury College, Christchurch The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a Public university, public research university based in Christchurch, Ne ...

, New Zealand.Smith, Brian J., (1981)
Arthur (1865–1925)
', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, MUP. While in New Zealand, Dendy coined the term " cryptozoic fauna" to refer to animals which live in environments like leaf litter, under rocks, and so on. In 1903, he became professor of biology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In 1905, he became professor of zoology at King's College, London. Dendy was an "extreme"

Lamarckian Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

, contributing to the

eclipse of Darwinism Julian Huxley used the phrase "the eclipse of Darwinism" to describe the state of affairs prior to what he called the "modern synthesis". During the "eclipse", evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles but relatively few biologists be ...

in the late 19th century.

Honours and distinctions

Dendy contributed articles including "Sponges" to the

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

under the initials "A. DE." He served as president of the

Quekett Microscopical Club The Quekett Microscopical Club is a learned society for the promotion of microscopy. Its members come from all over the world, and include both amateur and professional microscopists. It is a registered charity and not-for-profit publisher, with th ...

from 1912–16. His name is honoured in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

name ''Arthurdendyus'' Jones, 1999; ''

Arthurdendyus triangulatus The New Zealand flatworm (''Arthurdendyus triangulatus'') is a large land flatworm native to New Zealand. It can vary from 5 mm in length when hatched to approximately in mature adults. The New Zealand flatworm is considered an invasive ...

'' is the New Zealand flatworm, an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in the United Kingdom. His name is honoured in the

name ''Dendya'' Bidder, 1898, a genus of Calcarea (Porifera). Still in this group of Porifera, the

name ''Arturia'' Azevedo, Padua, Moraes, Rossi, Muricy & Klautau, 2017 was also named in his honour.

Works

* Dendy, Arthur, and Ridley, Stuart O. (1886
On ''Proteleia sollasi'', a new genus and species of monaxonid sponges allied to ''Polymastia''
Annals and Magazine of Natural History (5) 18: 152–159.

References

Bibliography

Australian Dictionary of Biography: Dendy, Arthur (1865–1925)

* *

External links

Photo of Dendy in 1895, with signature

National Portrait Gallery: 1917 photograph of Dendy
by

Walter Stoneman Walter Ernest Stoneman (6 April 1876 – 14 May 1958) was an English portrait photographer who took many photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. Career as a photographer Stoneman was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 6 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dendy, Arthur 1865 births 1925 deaths English zoologists Lamarckism Scientists from Manchester Fellows of the Royal Society Spongiologists Academics of King's College London