Richard South

FRES Fres () is a village and former municipality in the Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Apokoronas, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . The ...

(July 1846 – 28 March 1932) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

(butterflies and moths), particularly the smaller moths.

Life and work

South was born at Cochran Terrace in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

, London, England and educated at a private school in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. He began publishing entomological notes from 1874 to 1878 on the moths of Mill Hill. He is best known for writing three important books on butterflies and moths of the British Isles. After his death, these were updated by H. M. Edelsten. Michael Salmon has described these as "innovative" and "a new kind of ieldguide for the wentiethcentury", noting their early use of colour photographs and eschewing of "Victorian prolixity and classical preciousness". These volumes were among the first books to use colour plates printed by the half-tone four-colour process, which had been pioneered in the 1905 edition of

Rip Van Winkle "Rip Van Winkle" () is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Du ...

(by Washington Irvine) in 1905. The moth volumes were reprinted as late as 1980. He became known particularly for his work on the

Microlepidoptera Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the "smaller moths" ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, so are harder to iden ...

, particularly the

Pterophoridae The Pterophoridae or plume moths are a family of Lepidoptera with unusually modified wings, giving them the shape of a narrow winged airplane. Though they belong to the Apoditrysia like the larger moths and the butterflies, unlike these they are ...

(plume moths) and the

Tortricidae The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genu ...

; and also for revising the Latin names of the whole British moth fauna. South became the editor of ''

The Entomologist The ''Entomological Magazine'' was a publication devoted to entomology. The ''Entomological Magazine'' was published between September 1832 and October 1838 by the Society of Entomologists of London. The editor was Edward Newman (entomologist), ...

''. He also published many papers on the Lepidoptera of the Far East, including China and Korea, and an account of the butterflies collected by Captain F.M. Bailey in western China, Tibet and South-Eastern and the Mishmi Hills. Major parts of his collections of specimens survive, 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 ...

and in the collection of

Birmingham Museums Trust Birmingham Museums Trust is the largest independent charitable trust of museums in the United Kingdom. It runs nine museum sites across the city of Birmingham, including Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) and Thinktank, Birmingham Scien ...

Personal life

South was married twice, first in 1867 to his cousin Sarah Jane South (1846-1901), and in 1914 to Evelyn Urquhart (1871-1947) who survived him by 15 years. Her father had been a Mayor of

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

. By his first wife South had one daughter, Lucy Elizabeth (born 1868). South lived all his life in London. It is not clear how he earned his income: in the various censuses he describes himself as a "private secretary", editor of ''

'', and "writer"; and his highly popular guides ''The Butterflies of the British Isles'' and ''The Moths of the British Isles'' could have earned him substantial royalties. He died in 1932 at his London home after a period of poor health.

Books

*South R. (1906) ''The Butterflies of the British Isles'', Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London & NY: 210 pp. *South R. (1907) ''The Moths of the British Isles'', (First Series), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London & NY: 359 pp. *South R. (1908) ''The Moths of the British Isles'', (Second Series), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London & NY: 388 pp. *South R. (1923) ''Catalogue of the Collection of Palaearctic Butterflies'', (Publisher unknown) 240 pp. *South R., Stokoe W.J. & Stovin G.H.T. (1948) ''The Caterpillars of British Moths including the Eggs, Chrysalids and Food-Plants'', Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London & NY: 408 pp.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:South, Richard Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society English lepidopterists 1846 births 1932 deaths