Edward Wesley Janson (14 March 1822 - 14 September 1891) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

who specialised in

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

. The Janson family was of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

origin and Edward Wesley Janson's father was the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Agent of the Dutch Rhenish Railway Company. A keen entomologist Janson was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of London ...

in 1843. In 1850 he was appointed

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the collections of the Society a post he held until 1863. Then he became

Librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

until 1874. InsectCollectionDiptera

He started up his natural history business in 1852 selling books and specimens. He also became a

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, first initiating the ''Journal of Entomology'' ( in 14 parts from 1862-1866 with

Taylor and Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Ki ...

), then ''Cistula Entomologica'', ( 29 parts, from 1869–1885). He also published a volume of British Beetles in 1863 with illustrations from

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Gali ...

's) Curtis's ''British Entomology''. Janson also assembled a collection of world

Elateridae Elateridae or click beetles (or "typical click beetles" to distinguish them from the related families Cerophytidae and Eucnemidae, which are also capable of clicking) are a family of beetles. Other names include elaters, snapping beetles, spr ...

"''It consists of 25,000 specimens of which at least 1000 are original types. Janson purchased the collection of this family made by M. Candeze, and which was the basis of his monograph. He also bought a second collection formed by Candeze, and he possessed according to a note found anmongst his papers the collections of Latreille, Dejean, Buquet, Reiche, Laferte, Gory, Parry, Deyrolle, Schaum (part), Bakewell (including Curtis), W.W. Saunders, Mniszech, E. Brown, A. Murray, H. Clark, and Atkinson. He also had large series of specimens collected by Wallace, Bates, Buckley etc. ''" The Janson company archive is conserved in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

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His eldest son, Edward Mason Janson (1847–1880), was a famous English entomologist too, and became curator of the Entomological Society of Londo

References

*''The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum'' Vol. II, Separate Historical accounts of the Historical Collections included in the Department of Zoology. William Clowes and Sons Ltd. London, (1906) *
The Jansons, a family of entomologists
', Peter Andrews *Anonym 1891 anson, E. W.''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine''(3) 27 278. *Anonym 1891 anson, E. W. ''Ent. Rec. J. Var''. 2 223. *Anonym 1891: anson, E. W.- Entomologist 24 252. * Jordan, K. (1913) The Oriental Anthribidae of the Van de Poll collection. ''

Novitates Zoologicae ''Novitates Zoologicae: A Journal of Zoology in Connection With the Tring Museum'' was a British scientific journal devoted to systematic zoology. It was edited by Lionel Walter Rothschild and published between 1894 and 1948 by the Tring Museum ...

'' 20(2), 257–277."The family of Anthribidae of the van de Poll collection which we bought from Messrs. 0. E. Janson & Sons comprises a little over three thousand specimens, most of which came from the Oriental Region". {{DEFAULTSORT:Janson, Edward Wesley English entomologists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society 1822 births 1891 deaths