Arthur Lennox Butler (22 February 1873 – 29 December 1939) was a British naturalist. Born in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, he became a curator of a natural history museum in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, Malaysia. He later became the superintendent of a game preserve in Sudan before returning to England. He is commemorated in the scientific names of four species of reptile, a bird, and an amphibian.

Early life and education

Butler was born on 22 February 1873 in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father was the British ornithologist

Edward Arthur Butler Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Butler (4 July 1843 – 16 April 1916) was an English ornithologist and British Army officer. He is commemorated in the scientific specific name for the Omani owl, ''Strix butleri''. Life Butler was born ...

and his mother was Clara Francis Butler. Butler attended Fauconberg School in

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is located along the A145 r ...

. In 1891 at the age of eighteen, Butler traveled to

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now Sri Lanka) to become a tea-planter, which he abandoned to become a scientific collector.

Career

Butler became a scientific collector after moving to Ceylon, collecting specimens for the Marsden and Tring museums. In 1898, Butler was appointed curator at the State Museum at Kuala Lumpur in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. In 1899, he was elected as a member of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (ornithology) around the world in order to understand their biology and aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry Baker ...

. Beginning in 1901, he was the superintendent of

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

preservation in Anglo-Egyptian

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, a position he held until 1915. In 1921, he became a member of the

British Ornithologists' Club The British Ornithologists' Club (BOC) aims to promote discussion between members and others interested in ornithology, and to facilitate the dissemination of scientific information concerned with ornithology. The BOC has a special interest in avi ...

Personal life

In 1908, Butler married his cousin, Rose Boughton-Leigh. The couple had no children.

Later life and death

In 1915 Butler returned to England, living in St. Leonard's Park near

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

for the rest of his life. The last several years of his life were spent in poor health, and he was unable to attend any meetings of the British Ornithologists' Club from 1932 onward. Butler died on 29 December 1939 at age 66.

Legacy and honors

The scientific name of the

Nicobar sparrowhawk The Nicobar sparrowhawk (''Tachyspiza butleri'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to the Nicobar Islands of India. There are two subspecies, the nominate race which is found on Car Nicobar in the north of th ...

(''Accipiter butleri)'' commemorates Butler, as do the scientific names of four species of

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s (''Gehyra butleri'', '' Lycodon butleri'', '' Chilorhinophis butleri'', and ''

Tytthoscincus butleri ''Tytthoscincus butleri'', also known commonly as Butler's forest skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to Malaysia and Thailand. Etymology The specific name, ''butleri'', is in honor of British zoologist ...

)'' and an

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

('' Microhyla butleri)''. ''Gehyra butleri'' is now included as a synonym of ''

Gehyra mutilata ''Gehyra mutilata'', also known Common name, commonly as the common four-clawed gecko, Pacific gecko, stump-toed gecko, sugar gecko in Indonesia, tender-skinned house gecko, and ''butiki'' in Filipino language, Filipino, is a species of lizard in ...

'' by some. In 1915, he was awarded the

Order of the Nile The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor. Sulta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Arthur Lennox 1873 births 1939 deaths British naturalists People from Karachi Zoological collectors British people in colonial India British people in British Malaya