Douglas Keith McEwan Kevan best known as Keith Kevan

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

MIB (31 October 1920 – 9 July 1991) was a British zoologist and entomologist, who worked in Trinidad, East Africa and Canada. He published several books including on ethnoentomology and entomological poetry.

Life and work

Kevan was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 31 October 1920 during what is thought to have been an extended business trip on the part of his father, Douglas Keely Kevan, and his wife Gynnyth Paine. His father was an amateur conchologist and coleopterist while his mother was interested in botany and he too became interested in natural history at a young age. He was educated at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eight ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

at both primary (prep school) and secondary levels, 1925 to 1937. He then studied Sciences at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

graduating with a BSc in 1941. He left Britain during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and continued studies at Imperial College, St Augustin, in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

under a Vans Dunlop scholarship. Influenced by Arthur Strickland he became interested in soil zoology. In 1943 he received the Associateship of the Imperial College of Agriculture and posted as entomologist to Kenya. During the war he served briefly and married Private Kathleen Luckin. In Kenya, he served with the East-African Anti-Locust Directorate and was once forced to eat Benzene Hexachloride (BHC) publicly to demonstrate that it was harmless to humans. In 1948, he resigned from African service and returned to Britain as a lecturer in agricultural zoology at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. He gained a doctorate (PhD) in 1956. In 1958 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were James Ritchie,

Alexander David Peacock Alexander David Peacock FRSE (1886–1976) was a 20th-century British zoologist. Life He was born on 13 June 1886 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne the son of James Peacock, a grocer, and his wife, Jane Briggs. He was educated at Newcastle Royal Grammar Scho ...

, Sir Michael Swann and Greville Friend. Later in 1958 he took the post of Professor of Zoology at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In 1971 he moved to be Director of the Lyman Entomological Museum in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He was President of the Entomological Society of Canada 1972–73. He was a member of

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

. He had successful heart by-pass surgery in 1976 and retired in 1986. He died of a heart attack on 9 July 1991, and was survived by his wife Kathleen and three sons.

Publications

*''Soil Zoology'' (1955) *''Soil Animals'' (1962) *''Land of the Grasshoppers'' (1974) *''Land of the Locusts'' (1978)

References

1920 births 1991 deaths People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academic staff of McGill University Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British entomologists 20th-century British zoologists British expatriates in Finland British expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago British expatriates in Kenya British emigrants to Canada Presidents of the Entomological Society of Canada {{UK-zoologist-stub