George Willis Kirkaldy (1873 – February 2, 1910) 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 who specialised on Hemiptera. He was a

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of the

Royal Entomological Society 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 ...

from 1893. Kirkaldy, born in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

, in Greater London to W. H. Kirkaldy of Wimbledon was educated in England. Even at school in London he showed an interest in natural history and was appointed curator of the school museum. As a young boy he joined a debating club and spoke on the colouration of insects. He later went to

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in 1903 to work for the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

then for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station. While in Honolulu he had a riding accident which resulted in his fracturing his leg at five places. This injury never healed and his death in 1910 at

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followed five days after the last of several surgery attempts to fix it. Kirkaldy was the author of the 1906 ''Leafhoppers and their Natural Enemies. Pt IX. Leafhoppers - Hemiptera'' (''Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association Division of Entomology'' 1(9): 271-479), and the 1909 ''Catalogue of the Hemiptera (Heteroptera) with biological and anatomical references, lists of foodplants and parasites'' (Berlin) and very many taxonomic papers describing new species and genera. Amongst his generic names for insects are ''Ohchisme'', ''Dolichisme'', ''Elachisme'', ''Florichisme'', ''Isachisme'', ''Marichisme'','' Nanichisme'', ''Peggichisme'', and ''Polychisme''. The Greek suffix "-chisme" is pronounced "kiss-me" and Kirkaldy prefaced it with the names of the various women from alleged romantic conquests. In 1912 a letter to the International Entomological Congress from Lord Walsingham sought to make these names invalid on the basis of their being non-classical in their derivation. Kirkaldy himself had been a firm adherent to the principle of priority and was against any form of orthographic emendation to the spelling proposed by the original authors. His collections of

Auchenorrhyncha The Auchenorrhyncha suborder of the Hemiptera contains most of the familiar members of what was called the "Homoptera" – groups such as cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, planthoppers, and spittlebugs. The aphids and scale insects are the othe ...

and Heteroptera are in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

, London, the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

(Snow Collection),Entomology at the University of Kansas
at www.nhm.ku.edu the Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu and the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

in Washington.

References

*Anonym 1910: irkaldy, G. W.''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' (2) 46 95-96 *Bueno, J. R. de la Torre 1910: irkaldy, G. W. ''Ent. News'' 21 240-242 *Bueno, J. R. de la Torre 1910: irkaldy, G. W.''Can. Ent''. 42 97-99 *Burr, M. 1910: irkaldy, G. W.' Ent. Rec. J. Var''. 22 122-124 *Dolling, W. R. 1991. Bibliographies of the works of W. L. Distant and G. W. Kirkaldy. ''Tymbal'', suppl. no. 1: 60 pp. British expatriates in the United States English entomologists 1873 births 1910 deaths Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society People from Clapham {{UK-entomologist-stub