Louis Fraser (1819 – c. 1883) was a British

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 collector. In his early years, Fraser was curator of the Museum 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 ...

. Little is known about Fraser's early life. He was born in 1819 or 1820 and married Mary Ann Harrison on 17 February 1844. A son Oscar L. Fraser worked as an assistant in the Indian Museum at Calcutta around 1888. He worked for fourteen years at the museum of the Zoological Society of London. He worked with the anatomist Richard Owen on studies of the emu and rhea. He participated in the

Niger expedition of 1841 The Niger expedition of 1841 was mounted by British missionary and activist groups in 1841-1842, using three British iron steam vessels to travel to Lokoja, at the confluence of the Niger River and Benue River, in what is now Nigeria. The British ...

as the

African Civilization Society The African Civilization Society was an emigration organization founded in 1858 by several prominent members of the historic African-American Weeksville community located in central Brooklyn, New York. Following the Civil War and emancipation o ...

's scientist, with

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univer ...

and

Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...

. He stayed on in Fernando Po and collected. Upon his return he became in charge of

Lord Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...

's collection at

Knowsley Hall Knowsley Hall is a stately home near Liverpool in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. It is the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. The hall is surrounded by of parkland, which contains the Knowsley ...

. In 1846 he was sent by Lord Derby to collect in north Africa. In 1848 he became conservator at Knowsley. He wrote ''Zoologica Typica, or figures of the new and rare animals and birds in the collection of the Zoological Society of London'', a lavishly illustrated large-sized book, published in 1849. In this book he described many new species of birds. In 1850, Fraser was appointed Consul of Quidah, Dahomey (now Benin), West Africa. Around 1857–1859, he collected birds and mammals in Ecuador for

Philip Lutley Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological Society o ...

of the Zoological Society of London, and the year after in California. Upon his return to London, he opened a shop in Regent Street, London, selling exotic birds. The last years of his life he spent in America. Fraser wrote a ''Catalogue of the Knowsley Collections'' (1850) and described several new species including the

Derbyan parakeet Lord Derby's parakeet (''Psittacula derbiana''), also known as Derbyan parakeet, is a parrot species, which is confined to a small pocket of moist evergreen forest in the hills and mountains of the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, a ...

''Psittacula derbiana'' named after his employer. A number of species and subspecies have been named in his honour, including Fraser's anole ('' Anolis fraseri''), Fraser's ground snake ('' Liophis epinephelus fraseri''), a centipede snake ('' Tantilla fraseri'' ), Fraser's eagle-owl (''Bubo poensis''), Fraser's warbler (''Myiothlypis fraseri''), and Fraser's musk shrew (''Crocidura poensis'').

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Louis 1810 births 1866 deaths British zoologists Taxon authorities Zoological collectors British ornithologists British expatriates in Nigeria British expatriates in Benin British emigrants to the United States