Edward Turner Bennett (6 January 1797 – 21 August 1836) was an English
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and writer. He was the elder brother of the botanist
John Joseph Bennett
John Joseph Bennett (8 January 1801 – 29 February 1876) was a British botanist.
Bennett was assistant keeper of the Banksian herbarium and library at the British Museum from 1827 to 1858, when he succeeded Robert Brown as Keeper of the Botan ...
.
[Bennett, Edward Turner (1797-1836), zoologist]
by J. C. Edwards in Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
online (accessed 21 July 2008)
Bennett was born at
Hackney and practiced as a
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
, but his chief pursuit was always zoology. In 1822 he attempted to establish an entomological society, which later became a zoological society in connection with the
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
. This in turn became the starting point of the
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park.
History
On 29 ...
, of which Bennett was Secretary from 1831 to 1836.
[Mullens, W. H., and H. Kirke Swann]
''A Bibliography of British Ornithology from the Earliest Times to the End of 1912''.
London, England: Macmillan, 1917. (Accessed on 5/10/2014.)
His works included ''The Tower Menagerie'' (1829) and ''The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society'' (1831). He also wrote, in conjunction with G. T. Lay, the section on Fishes in the ''Zoology of Beechey's Voyage'' (1839).
In 1835 he described a new species of African crocodile, ''
Mecistops leptorhynchus
The Central African slender-snouted crocodile (''Mecistops leptorhynchus'') is one of two species of crocodiles in the genus ''Mecistops''. It was once thought to be a population of the West African slender-snouted crocodile (''Mecistops cataph ...
'', the validity of which was confirmed in 2018.
See also
*
:Taxa named by Edward Turner Bennett
References
External links
*
*
* Bennett, Edward Turner (1830–31
''The gardens and menagerie of the Zoological Society..., two volumes''
1797 births
1836 deaths
English zoologists
Secretaries of the Zoological Society of London
People from Hackney Central
{{UK-zoologist-stub