Lawrence Morris Lambe (August 27, 1863 – March 12, 1919) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, and

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

from the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; , CGC) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the environment. A branch of the Earth Science ...

(GSC). His published work, describing the diverse and plentiful

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

discoveries from the fossil beds in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, did much to bring dinosaurs into the public eye and helped usher in the ''Golden Age of Dinosaurs'' in the province. During this period, between the 1880s and World War I, dinosaur hunters from all over the world converged on Alberta. ''

Lambeosaurus ''Lambeosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period of western North America. The first skull of ''Lambeosaurus'' found was used by palaeontologist Lawrence M. Lambe to justify the creation of ...

'', a well-known

hadrosaur Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...

, was named after him as a tribute, in 1923. In addition to paleontology, Lambe discovered a number of invertebrate species ranging from Canada to the Pacific Northwest. Lambe's contemporary discoveries were published in works such as ''Sponges From the Atlantic Coast of Canada'' and ''Catalogue of the recent marine sponges of Canada and Alaska''.

Early life and education

Lambe was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

on August 27, 1863. Lambe studied at the

Royal Military College of Canada The Royal Military College of Canada (), abbreviated in English as RMC and in French as CMR, is a Military academy#Canada, military academy and, since 1959, a List of universities in Canada#Ontario, degree-granting university of the Canadian ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

from 1880–1883.

Career

Lambe published a number of biological works, starting in the 1880s and culminating in 1919. His most notable published works from his biological and zoological studies include his numerous ''Bibliography of Canadian Zoology'' editions, along with ''Sponges from the western coast of North America'', and ''A new recent marine sponge (Esperella bella-bellensis) from the Pacific Coast of Canada''. Lambe's work in western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

began in 1897. He discovered a number of new dinosaur genera and species over the next few years, and spent much of his time preparing the fossil galleries of the GSC's museum. In 1902, he described Canada's first dinosaur finds, various species of ''

Monoclonius ''Monoclonius'' (meaning "single sprout") is an extinct dubious genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur found in the Late Cretaceous layers of the Judith River Formation in Montana, United States, and the uppermost rock layers of the Dinosaur ...

''. He described ''

Centrosaurus ''Centrosaurus'' ( ; ) is a genus of centrosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur from Campanian age of Late Cretaceous Canada. Their remains have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating from 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago. Discovery and nami ...

'' in 1904. ''

Euoplocephalus ''Euoplocephalus'' ( ) is a genus of large herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaurs, living during the Late Cretaceous of Canada. It has only one named species, ''Euoplocephalus tutus''. The first fossil of ''Euoplocephalus'' was found in 1897 in Albe ...

'' was named by him, in 1910. In 1913, he named ''

Styracosaurus ''Styracosaurus'' ( ; meaning "spiked lizard" from the Ancient Greek / "spike at the butt-end of a spear-shaft" and / "lizard") is an extinct genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian stage) of North America. ...

''. He was responsible for naming ''

Chasmosaurus ''Chasmosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period in North America. Its given name means 'opening lizard', referring to the large openings ( fenestrae) in its frill (Greek ''chasma'', meaning 'opening', 'hol ...

'' and ''

Gorgosaurus ''Gorgosaurus'' ( ; ) is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period (Campanian), between about 76.5 and 75 million years ago. Fossil remains have been found in the Ca ...

'', in 1914 and ''

Eoceratops ''Chasmosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratopsid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period in North America. Its given name means 'opening lizard', referring to the large openings ( fenestrae) in its frill (Greek ''chasma'', meaning 'opening', 'holl ...

'' in 1915. In 1917, he created the genus ''

Edmontosaurus ''Edmontosaurus'' ( ) (meaning "lizard from Edmonton"), with the second species often colloquially and historically known as ''Anatosaurus'' or ''Anatotitan'' (meaning "duck lizard" and "giant duck"), is a genus of hadrosaurid (duck-billed) din ...

''. In 1919 came ''

Panoplosaurus ''Panoplosaurus'' is a genus of armoured dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. Few specimens of the genus are known, all from the middle Campanian of the Dinosaur Park Formation, roughly 76 to 75 million years ago. It was first d ...

''. He also discovered and named the

hadrosaurid Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...

Gryposaurus ''Gryposaurus'' (meaning "hooked-nosed (Ancient Greek, Greek ''grypos'') lizard"; sometimes incorrectly translated as "griffin (Latin ''gryphus'') lizard") was a genus of hadrosaur, duckbilled dinosaur that lived about 80 to 75 million years ag ...

''. Inevitably, it was not only dinosaurs that Lambe discovered. The crocodilian '' Leidysuchus canadensis'' was described in 1907. This is the most commonly found crocodilian species found in the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

deposits of

. He also studied

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

es from the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

and the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, and also

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s. He also collected

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and plants in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. However, it is for his work on vertebrates from western Canada, especially dinosaurs, that he is most famous. He died at his home in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

on March 12, 1919.

Books

* Lawrence Lambe ''Album of 632 paleontological drawings'' (1885–1891), From The Logan Collection, Geological Survey of Canada (1891) * Lawrence Morris Lambe ''Collected papers'' eBook - Digitized from 1901 volume * Lawrence Morris Lambe ''On Trionyx Foveatus, Lediy, And Trionyx, Vagans, Cope, From The Cretaceous Rocks Of Alberta'' (1902); published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC. * Lawrence Morris Lambe ''Sponges From The Western Coast Of North America'' (1894); published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC. * Lawrence Morris Lambe ''Presidential address: The past vertebrate life of Canada'' (1912) by Royal Society of Canada; published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC. * Lawrence Morris Lambe ''Description of a new species of Platysomus from the neighborhood of Banff, Alta'' (1914) by Royal Society of Canada; published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC. * Lawrence Morris Lambe ''On new species of Aspideretes from the Belly River formation of Alberta: With further information regarding the structure of the carapace of Boremys pulchra'' (1914) published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC.

Honours

* Lambe Island,

Algoma District, Ontario Algoma District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The name was created by an American ethnologist, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793–1864), who was appointed Indian agent to the Ojibwe ...

, Canada was named in honour of Mr. Lawrence M. Lambe (RMC 1880–1883), Invertebrate Palaeontologist, Geological Survey. It is located at 46° 19' 49" North 83° 54' 25" West * In 1923, the new Hadrosaurian genus ''

'' was also named after Lawrence Lambe. *

Mount Lambe Mount Lambe is a mountain summit located in the Canadian Rockies on the border of Alberta and British Columbia. It was named in 1918 after Lawrence Morris Lambe, a Canadian geologist, palaeontologist, and ecologist from the Geological Survey of ...

in Banff National Park was named for him in 1918.

Notes

External links

Impression of Lambe's 'slothful Gorgosaurus'
drawn by

John Sibbick John Sibbick is a British freelance illustrator and palaeoartist, known for his depictions of prehistoric life and for his fantasy art. Early life John Sibbick began drawing in his childhood. His earliest art involved drawing figures and co ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambe, Lawrence Canadian paleontologists Geological Survey of Canada personnel 1863 births 1919 deaths Royal Military College of Canada alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Fellows of the Geological Society of London