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 Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

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 Isl ...

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, Tama ...

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. B ...

. 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, Sir George Hamilton Kenrick 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 present ...

Collections

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

Species named after Pratt

Pratt's roundleaf bat Pratt's roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros pratti'') is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is found in China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Taxonomy and etymology It was described as a new species in 1891 by British zoolog ...

''Hipposiderous pratti,'' 1891 * Pratt's vole (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'', 1899 * '' Sphenomorphus pratti'', 1903. www.reptile-database.org. * Pratt's tree frog '' Litoria pratti'', 1911 * Green acouchi ''Myoprocta pratti,'' 1913 * Ceram bandicoot ''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,'' 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