William Forsell Kirby 2282957 210110428 2008-05-04T14:36:24Z Thijs!bot 1392310 robot Adding: [[fi:William Kirby]] {{Distinguish2|the earlier English entomologist [[William Kirby (entomologist)|William Kirby]]}} '''William Forsell Kirby''' ([[January 14]], [[1844]] - [[November 20]], [[1912]]<ref>''Who's Who 1914'', p. xxii</ref>) was an [[England|English]] [[entomologist]] and [[folkloristics|folklorist]]. Born in [[Leicester]], he was educated privately, and became interested in [[butterflies]] and [[moths]] at an early age. He published a small ''Manual of European Butterflies'' in 1862. In 1867 he became a curator in the Museum of the [[Royal Dublin Society]], and produced a ''Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal [[Lepidoptera]] (1871; Supplement 1877). In 1879 Kirby joined the staff of the [[Natural History Museum]] as an Assistant after the death of [[Frederick Smith (entomologist)|Frederick Smith]]. He published a number of catalogues, as well as ''Rhopalocera Exotica'' (1887-1897) and an ''Elementary Text-book of Entomology''. He retired in 1909. Kirby had a wide range of interests, knew many languages and translated (for the first time directly from Finnish, as opposed to from another language) the [[Finnish language|Finnish]] epic, [[Kalevala]], into [[English language|English]]. ==Works and Achievements== ===Entomology=== * Manual of European Butterflies. 1862 * Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. 1871 * ''Catalogue of the collection of diurnal Lepidoptera formed by the late William Chapman Hewitson of Oatlands, Walton on Thames; and bequeathed by him to the British Museum''. London, John Van Voorst. iv + 246 pp.[[18 * ''Familiar butterflies and moths''. 1901 * ''Butterflies and moths of Europe'' (Illustrated). 1903 * ''Elementary Text-book of Entomology''. * ''Hand-book to the order Lepidoptera''. 1897 * ''Marvels of Ant Life''. Circa 1890s He is also credited on a few other works: * ''Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera'' by [[William Chapman Hewitson]] 1863 * ''Natural history''. by [[Richard Lydekker]] 1897 ===Literary=== * Kalevala the Land of Heroes. 1907. ISBN 978-0-674-50000-6 * The Hero of Esthonia? and other studies in the romantic literature of that country. 1895 * ''Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights and Their Imitations'' (An appendix to Volume 10 to [[Richard F. Burton]]'s translation of The Nights. 1886 ==Notes== <references/> ==External links== * ''The Natural History Museum at South Kensington'' William T. Stearn ISBN 0-434-73600-7 * A handbook to the order Lepidoptera [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-99199 Scanned version] * Elementary Text-book of Entomology [http://www.scientiadigital.com/zoologia/KirbyZoo/pag1.shtml Scanned version] * A manual of European butterflies, on the plan of Stainton's manual of British butterflies and moths the ill. by T. W. Wood [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Scanned version] *A synonymic catalogue of diurnal lepidoptera / by W. F. Kirby [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Scanned version] *A synonymic catalogue of neuroptera odonata, or dragonflies : with an appendix of fossil species [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Scanned version] *A synonymic catalogue of lepidoptera heterocera (moths.). Vol. I, Sphinges and bombyces [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Scanned version] *[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/hoe/index.htm ''The Hero of Esthonia''] *{{gutenberg author|id=William_Forsell_Kirby|name=William Forsell Kirby}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, William Forsell}} [[Category:Employees of the Natural History Museum]] [[Category:English entomologists]] [[Category:Irish entomologists]] [[Category:People from Leicester]] [[Category:1844 births]] [[Category:1912 deaths]] {{entomologist-stub}} [[de:William Forsell Kirby]] [[fr:William Forsell Kirby]] [[fi:William Kirby]]