Frederick Smith (30 December 1805 – 16 February 1879) was a British
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 worked at the
zoology
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 ...
department of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
from 1849, specialising in the
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...
.
Smith was born near York to William Smith and went to school at Leeds. He then studied under landscape engraver
W.B. Cooke along with his nephew
William Edward Shuckard William Edward Shuckard (1803, Brighton – 10 November 1868, Kennington) was an English bookseller and entomologist.
He was also librarian of the Royal Society and translated ''Manual of Entomology'' Hermann Burmeister (1807-1892). He was a sp ...
. Together they took an interest in insects, especially the ants and bees. In 1841, following the death of William Bainbridge, he became a curator of the collections and the library of the Entomological Society of London. As an engraver he produced copies based on the works of Turner, Constable and David Roberts. He also worked with Gray arranging Hymenoptera in the British Museum. In 1849 he succeeded Edward Doubleday as a member of the zoologicy department. He then gave up his art work but produced the plates for Wollaston's ''Insecta Maderensia'' (1854) and for papers in the Transactions of the Entomological Society.
In 1875, he was promoted to Assistant Keeper of Zoology. His publications included ''Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects'' (7 parts, 1853–1859) and parts 5 (1851) and 6 (1852) of the ''Nomenclature of Coleopterous Insects''. In these volumes, he catalogued hundreds of bees. Many of these bees he named including ''
Bombus frigidus'', ''Halictus coriaceus'', and ''Nomia nasalis'', which he discovered.
Smith was president 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 Londo ...
, 1862–3.
He died on 16 February 1879 after undergoing a surgery for gallstones. He was buried at Finchley Cemetery.
His son was
Edgar Albert Smith
Edgar Albert Smith (29 November 1847 – 22 July 1916) was a British zoologist, a malacologist.
His father was Frederick Smith, a well-known entomologist, and assistant keeper of zoology in the British Museum, Bloomsbury. Edgar Albert Smith ...
(1847–1916), zoologist and
malacologist
Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...
.
[Anonymous (1916). "Edgar Albert Smith, I.S.O., late conchologist of the British Museum". '']Geological Magazine
The ''Geological Magazine'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1864, covering the earth sciences. It publishes original scientific research papers on geological topics. The journal is published bimonthly by Cambridge University ...
'' (n.s.) (decade 6)3(9): 431-432. .
Bibliography
Publications of Frederick SmithHymenoptera On-Line Database
References
Further reading
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External links
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1805 births
1879 deaths
English entomologists
Myrmecologists
Hymenopterists
Employees of the Natural History Museum, London
{{UK-entomologist-stub