Peter Cameron (1847 – 1 December 1912 in

New Mills New Mills is a town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, south-east of Stockport and from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a deep gorge cut thro ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

) 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 ...

amateur

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 specialised in

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 ...

. An artist Cameron worked in the

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

industry and in

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

printing. He described many new species; his collection, including

type material In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

, is now 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. ...

. He suffered from poor health and lack of employment. Latterly, he lived in New Mills and was supported by scholarships from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He loaned specimens to

Jean-Jacques Kieffer Jean-Jacques Kieffer (1857 in Guinkirchen – 1925 in Bitche) was a French naturalist and entomologist who specialised in the study of parasitic insects. Educated as a priest, Kieffer taught natural science in Bitche, Lorraine while working on ...

, a teacher and Catholic priest in

Bitche Bitche ( , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department, administrative regions of France, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It ...

, Lorraine, who also named species after Cameron.

Works

*A ''Monograph of the British Phytophagous Hymenoptera'' Ray Society (1882–1893) *Hymenoptera volumes of the ''

Biologia Centrali-Americana The ''Biologia Centrali-Americana'' is an encyclopedia of the natural history of Mexico and Central America, privately issued in 215 parts from 1879 to 1915 by the editors Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, of the British Museum (Natural ...

'', volumes 1-2 (1883–1900) and (1888–1900) See External Links for complete list.

References

External links

Publications of Peter CameronManuscript collectionBHL
''Hymenoptera Orientalis: or contributions to a knowledge of the Hymenoptera of the Oriental zoological region''. Manchester :Literary and Philosophical Society,1889-1903.
Digital Version of ''Biologia Centrali-Americana''
English entomologists Hymenopterists 1847 births 1912 deaths People from New Mills {{UK-entomologist-stub