John Douglas Tothill DSc, CMG (February 1888 - 1969

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...

), was an English-born entomologist, agriculturalist and civil servant, whose career took him to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

and the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. He was the son of Walter Tothill and Frances L. Williams. He was educated at Blundell's School. John Douglas Tothill was the first federal forestry official appointed in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. He studied at the Ontario Agricultural College, specialising in entomology and botany, and in 1922 received a doctorate from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He was employed for a short period by the US

Bureau of Entomology The Bureau of Entomology was a unit within the Federal government of the United States from 1894 to 1934. It developed from a section of the Department of Agriculture which had been working on entomological researches and allied issues relating to ...

Gypsy Moth Parasite laboratory. Tothill later joined the Entomology Branch of the Department of Agriculture and established a laboratory on the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

campus in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

. Over the next decade he led research on invasive insects, such as the brown-tail moth (''

Euproctis chrysorrhoea The brown-tail moth (''Euproctis chrysorrhoea'') is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is native to Europe, neighboring countries in Asia, and the north coast of Africa. Descriptions of outbreaks, i.e., large population increases of several year ...

''), the gypsy moth (''

Lymantria dispar ''Lymantria dispar'', also known as the gypsy moth or the spongy moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. ''Lymantria dispar'' is subdivided into several subspecies, with subspecies such as ''L. d. dispar'' and ''L. d. japonica'' bei ...

''), and native insects such as the forest tent caterpillar ('' Malacosoma disstria''), the fall webworm (''

Hyphantria cunea The fall webworm (''Hyphantria cunea'') is a moth in the family Erebidae known principally for its larval stage, which creates the characteristic webbed nests on the tree limbs of a wide variety of hardwoods in the late summer and fall. It is con ...

''), and the spruce budworm ('' Choristoneura fumiferana''). In 1923 he was transferred to the Forest Insect Division in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, and in 1924 was sent to Fiji by the

Imperial Bureau of Entomology Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

to study the problematic levuana moth. The moth was finally brought under control by the release of the tachinid fly ''

Bessa remota ''Bessa'' is a genus of flies in the family Tachinidae The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have b ...

'' from Malaysia. In Fiji he soon became the country's director of agriculture, later holding similar posts in Uganda and Sudan. Although he spent only about 12 years in Canada, he is regarded as having established biological pest control in Canada and for placing forestry on a sound scientific footing.

Publications

*''The Coconut Moth in Fiji: A History of Its Control by Means of Parasites'' - Ronald Wood Paine, Thomas Hugh Colebrook Taylor and John Douglas Tothill (1930) *''Report of the Soil Conservation Committee'' - John Douglas Tothill (1944) *''Agriculture in the Sudan: Being a Handbook of Agriculture As Practised in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan'' - John Douglas Tothill (1948) *''A Report on Nineteen Surveys done in Small Agricultural Areas in Uganda'' - John Douglas Tothill (1938) *''Agriculture in Uganda'' - John Douglas Tothill (1940) *''Agriculture in the Sudan: Being a Handbook of Agriculture As Practised in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan'' - John Douglas Tothill (1948) *''The Natural Control of the Fall Webworm (''

'' Drury) in Canada'' - John Douglas Tothill (1922) *''Memoirs of Life in the Sudan'', unpublished manuscript of ''A Naturalist in the Asir Mountains of Arabia'', written 1952-1953

Family

Tothill married Ruby Hughes. On retirement they settled in Anstruther, Fife, in Scotland. Their children were: *Jessie Elizabeth Tothill, born 1917, Victoria, British Columbia, married

William Julius Eggeling Dr William Julius (Joe) Eggeling FRSE (18 July 1909 in Upper Largo, Fife – 10 February 1994 in Perth) was a Scottish-born forester, botanist, and naturalist. Eggeling was a dominant figure in the Uganda Forest Department in the 1930s and 1 ...

(1909-1994). *John Thomas Tothill, born 1921, Fredericton, Canada. *Allan Hughes Tothill, born 1922, Fredericton, Canada, married May Davidson.

External links

''A Critical Analysis of the Extinction of ''Levuana iridescens'' in Fiji by'' Bessa remota - Mark Hoddle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tothill, John Douglas English entomologists Harvard University alumni People educated at Blundell's School Ontario Agricultural College alumni English civil servants Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 1888 births English agronomists 1969 deaths 20th-century British zoologists British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Canada British expatriates in Angola British expatriates in Fiji British expatriates in Sudan