Edmund Murton Walker (October 5, 1877 – February 14, 1969) was a Canadian

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 ...

. He described the genus ''

Grylloblatta ''Grylloblatta'' is a genus of insects in the family Grylloblattidae. It contains 15 species, including '' Grylloblatta chirurgica'', almost exclusively from high-altitude and high-latitude regions of the United States, living in ice caves and g ...

'' in 1914 which he then considered as a member of the

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho ...

and later placed it in a separate order Grylloblattodea but which are now included in the order

Notoptera The wingless insect order Notoptera, a group first proposed in 1915, had been largely unrecognized since its original conception, until resurrected in 2004. As now defined, the order comprises five families, three of them known only from fossils ...

. Walker was born in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

, the second child and eldest son of Sir

Byron Edmund Walker Sir Byron Edmund Walker, CVO (14 October 1848 – 27 March 1924) was a Canadian banker. He was the president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce from 1907 to 1924, and a generous patron of the arts, helping to found and nurture many of Canada's ...

, after whom he was named, and Mary Alexander. He became interested in insects as a boy through the influence of William Saunders. After studying natural sciences at the University of Toronto he went to study medicine. He went to intern at the Toronto General Hospital but realized that he had little interest in medicine. He then studied zoology under Ramsay Wright at the Department of Zoology before going to study invertebrate biology at the University of Berlin. He returned to work as a lecturer in zoology at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1906 and became the head of

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

in 1934. He retired in 1948. Grylloblatta campodeiformis Walker1

On 29 June 1913, his assistant Takatsuna B. Kurata discovered a peculiar insect under a rock on a scree on Sulphur Mountain,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and Walker immediately knew that it was something peculiar and new. Walker considered it a new family but it was later considered a new order of insects, the

Grylloblattodea Grylloblattidae, commonly known as the icebugs, or ice crawlers, is a family of extremophile (psychrophile) and wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains and the edges of glaciers. They belong, along with Mantophasmatidae (rock c ...

(nowadays often ranked as

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

within the order

, sister to the heel-walkers or Mantophasmatodea). He noted the peculiar characters but considered it a primitive lineage of orthopterans, and many of his later researches were on the analysis of trends within the Orthoptera. Another area of work was on the fly '' Wohlfahrtia vigil'' and its involvement in cutaneous myiasis in humans. He was also a founding member of the Toronto Field Naturalists' Club. Walker was also a keen botanist, and amateur painter. Walker founded the invertebrate collection at the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

(which his father had helped create) in 1914, and served in various directorships at the museum: as Assistant Director 1918–1931, and as Honorary Director 1931–1969. He was awarded the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

's Flavelle medal in 1960, and was awarded an honorary degree from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

. A scholarship named after him is offered by the University of Toronto. Walker also published the three volume ''Odonata of Canada and Alaska'', considered a definitive work on the topic, and was editor of ''

The Canadian Entomologist ''The Canadian Entomologist'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of entomology. It is published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of Canada and was established in 1868. Volumes ...

'' from 1910 when he succeeded C.J.S. Bethune until 1920, when he found himself to busy. Walker died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1969. His first wife died in 1941 while his second,

Norma Ford Among the characters introduced to the British television soap opera '' Coronation Street'' in 1972 were Archie Crabtree (brother of Hilda Ogden), Norma Ford, and Deirdre Hunt (subsequently Deirdre Barlow). Archie Crabtree Archie Crabtree ...

, a geneticist, whom he married in 1943 died a few months before him.

References

External links

* * * * *
Edmund Murton archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Edmund Murton 1877 births 1969 deaths People from Windsor, Ontario Canadian entomologists University of Toronto faculty 20th-century Canadian zoologists