Edward Wesley Janson (14 March 1822 – 14 September 1891) was an English

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

who specialised in

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s. The Janson family was of

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

origin and Edward Wesley Janson's father was the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Agent of the Dutch Rhenish Railway Company. A keen entomologist, Janson was elected a Fellow of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

in 1843. In 1850, he was appointed curator of the Society's collections, a post he held until 1863. He was then the Society's librarian until 1874. InsectCollectionDiptera

In 1852, he started a

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

business, Janson & Sons, selling books and specimens. He also became a publisher, first initiating the ''Journal of Entomology'' (published by

Taylor and Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 Research and Dovepress. It is a division of ...

in 14 parts from 1862-1866), then ''Cistula Entomologica'' (29 parts, from 1869–1885). He also published a volume of ''British Beetles'' in 1863, with illustrations from

John Curtis John Ream Curtis (born May 10, 1960) is an American politician serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Utah. A member of the Republican Party, Curtis served from 2017 to 2025 as the U.S. representative for Utah's 3rd congre ...

' ''

British Entomology ''British Entomology'' is a classic work of entomology by John Curtis (entomologist), John Curtis, Linnean Society of London, FLS. It is subtitled ''Being Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland: ...

''. Janson also assembled a collection of world click beetles (Elateridae), consisting of 25,000 specimens of which 1000 were original types. The Janson company archive is conserved in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in London. His eldest son

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, was also an entomologist.

References

*''The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum'' Vol. II, Separate Historical accounts of the Historical Collections included in the Department of Zoology. William Clowes and Sons Ltd. London, (1906) *
The Jansons, a family of entomologists
', Peter Andrews *Anonym 1891 anson, E. W.''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine''(3) 27 278. *Anonym 1891 anson, E. W. ''Ent. Rec. J. Var''. 2 223. *Anonym 1891: anson, E. W.- Entomologist 24 252. * Jordan, K. (1913) The Oriental Anthribidae of the Van de Poll collection. ''

Novitates Zoologicae ''Novitates Zoologicae: A Journal of Zoology in Connection With the Tring Museum'' was a British scientific journal devoted to systematic zoology. It was edited by Lionel Walter Rothschild and published between 1894 and 1948 by the Tring Museum ...

'' 20(2), 257–277."The family of Anthribidae of the van de Poll collection which we bought from Messrs. 0. E. Janson & Sons comprises a little over three thousand specimens, most of which came from the Oriental Region". {{DEFAULTSORT:Janson, Edward Wesley English entomologists Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society 1822 births 1891 deaths