James John Walker (16 May 1851,

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

– 12 January 1939) 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 ...

. Walker was a

marine engineer Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

who trained at the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

dockyard in Sheerness and voyaged around most of the world, collecting insects when on land. His sister Adelaide married George Charles Champion (another entomologist) cementing their friendship. After his retirement, Walker lived in Oxford and became one of the editors of the ''

Entomologist's Monthly Magazine ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' is a British entomological journal, founded by a staff of five editors – T. Blackburn, H. G. Knaggs, M.D., R. McLachlan, F.L.S., E. C. Rye and H. T. Stainton – and first published in 1864.Wale, Matthew ...

''. His house, in Summertown, a suburb of Oxford. was named Aorangi, a Māori name for

Aoraki/Mount Cook Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as . It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourit ...

, a favourite place visited on his travels. Walker's collections from the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

are shared by 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 and the

Oxford University Museum The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...

which also conserves his British Coleoptera. He was 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

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 London ...

(President 1919–20) and a Fellow of 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 ...

. Walker is commemorated in the scientific names of two species of lizards, '' Draco walkeri'' and '' Lerista walkeri'', both described in 1891 by

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

of the

British Museum (Natural History) 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 ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Walker, J.J.", p. 279). The epithet of a tiny australian bat, delivered by Walker and described as species ''

Nyctophilus walkeri The pygmy long-eared bat (''Nyctophilus walkeri'') is a vesper bat, found in the north of the Australian continent. An insectivorous flying hunter, they are one of the tiniest mammals in Australia, weighing only a few grams and one or two inches ...

'', was given by the author

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

to honour Walker's many collections of specimens.

References

Sources

*Blair KG (1939). alker, J. J.''L'Entomologiste'' 72: 48. *Carpenter GDH (1941). alker, J. J.''Proc. Linn. Soc. London'' 151 (4): 260–262. * Grensted LW (1939). alker, J. J.''Rep. Ashmolean Nat. Hist. Soc. Oxfordshire'' 1938: 22–23. *Hesselbart G, Oorschot H van, Wagener S (1995). ''Die Tagfalter der Türkei unter Berücksichtigung der angrenzenden Länder''. Bocholt. *Hobby BM (1939). alker, J. J.''J. Soc. British Ent'' 2 (1): 43–44. *Poulton EB (1939). alker, J. J.''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine'' (3) 75 64–70. (Walker's publications on

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 ...

with some notes on other insect

Orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

, mainly

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

and

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

are listed through to p. 79) as "A selected and classified bibliography of J.J. Walker's publications 1872–1939".

External links

Internet Archiv
directs to internet texts of
* Saunders, Edward (1890). "Aculeate Hymenoptera collected by J. J. Walker, Esq., R.N., F.L.S., at Gibraltar and in North Africa". ''Entomologists Monthly Magazine'' 26: 201-205. (ants only). * Forel, Auguste (1900). "''Ponerinae et Dorylinae d'Australie. Récoltés par MM. Turner, Froggatt, Nugent, Chase, Rothney, J.-J. Walker, etc.''". ''Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique'' 44: 54-77. 1851 births 1939 deaths English entomologists English coleopterists Hymenopterists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society {{UK-entomologist-stub