William McCalla (1814–1849) was an Irish naturalist. McCalla lived in Roundstone, Co.Galway where he was a schoolmaster. He is associated with many areas of natural history and had a private museum. His bird records are frequently mentioned in the ''Natural History of Ireland'' by William Thompson. He worked as a plant specimens collector for David Moore,

John Scouler John Scouler (31 December 1804 – 13 November 1871) was a Scottish naturalist. Life Scouler, the son of a calico-printer, was born in Glasgow on 31 December 1804. He received the rudiments of his education at Kilbarchan, but was sent very earl ...

and

Thomas Coulter Thomas Coulter (1793–1843), of Dundalk, was an Irish physician, botanist and explorer. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and founder of that college's herbarium. After completing a medical de ...

. McCalla collected

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

and

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, his records are included in Harvey's Phycologia Britannica. His specimens are in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

and

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He was the discoverer in 1835 of ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus * E ...

mackaiana'', which he transmitted to Mackay. This plant is found only in Roundstone district (Ireland) and the mountains of Castile and Asturia. The

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

''Cladophora macallana'' (now referred to as ''Cladophora lehmanniana'' (Lindenberg) Kützing) was named after him by

William Henry Harvey William Henry Harvey, FRS FLS (5 February 1811 – 15 May 1866) was an Irish botanist and phycologist who specialised in algae. Biography Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father ...

. McCalla's algal collection in the Ulster Museum includes two albums with 75 specimens in volume I (museum catalogue numbers: F10368 - F10442) and 50 specimens in volume II (Museum catalogue numbers: F10443 - F10492) along with two

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. An account of his life and career is given by Tim Robinson in ''Connemara:Listening to the Wind''. William McCalla was recognized for his publication, Algae Hibernicae, in 1845, by the Royal Dublin society, by a silver award medal.

References

* Eager, A.R. and Scannell, M.J.P. 1978. William M'Calla: his published papers overlooked in scientific literature. ''Ir.Nat. J.'' 19: 281. * Eager, R. Alan and Scannell, J.P. 1981. William M'Calla (c. 1814 - 1849), Phycologist; his published papers of 1846. ''J.Life Sci. R. Dubl. Soc.'' 2 109 - 135. * Nelson, E.C. 1981. William McCalla - A second 'panegyric' for an Irish psychologist. ''Ir. Nat. J.'' 20:275 - 283. * Morton, O. 1980. Three algal collections in the Ulster Museum Herbarium. ''Ir. Nat. J.'' 20: 33 - 37. * Robinson, Tim, 2006. Connemara:Listening to the Wind, pp. 39–41. 19th-century Irish botanists 19th-century Irish zoologists Phycologists 1814 births 1849 deaths People from County Galway {{Ireland-botanist-stub