William Ferguson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FLS DL FGS (1820–1887), was a botanist and

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 ...

. He specialised in

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

and

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

Career

Ferguson entered the Ceylon civil service in 1839, arriving in the island in December of that year. Here he lived until his death on 31 July 1887. He occupied his leisure time in botanical and entomological studies, gaining an intimate knowledge of the flora and insect life of the island, and publishing from time to time the results of his observations and researches in '' The Ceylon Observer'' and the ''Tropical Agriculturist''. His work obtained recognition from Dr. Hooker and other eminent biologists (see Ceylon, Physical, Historical and Topographical). With

Albert Grunow Albert Grunow (3 November 1826, Berlin – 17 March 1914, Berndorf, Lower Austria) was a German-Austrian chemist and phycologist. He specialized in the study of diatoms. From 1851 he worked as a chemist in a metal works factory in Berndorf. I ...

he issued the

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

''Algae Ceylanicae, legit W. Ferguson, determ. A. Grunow''. Also, in the scientific field of

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

, Ferguson described two new species of reptiles, ''

Aspidura guentheri ''Aspidura guentheri'', commonly known as Günther's rough-sided snake, www.reptile-database.org. is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Sri Lanka. It is the smallest member of the genus ''Aspidura''. Etymolog ...

'' and '' Cnemaspis scalpensis''. In 1874 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were William Dickson, David MacLagan, Thomas Brown and

John MacGregor McCandlish John MacGregor McCandlish Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE (1821–1901) was a Scottish lawyer and actuary. He was the first president of the Faculty of Actuaries. Life He was born at 17 Minto Street in south Edinburgh on 12 January 1821 the son ...

. He died on 31 July 1887 in Colombo, Ceylon.

Publications

see # ''The Palmyra Palm, ''Borassus flabelliformis''. A popular Description of the Palm and its Products, having special reference to Ceylon, with a valuable Appendix, embracing extracts from nearly every Author that has noticed the Tree. Illustrated by wood engravings''. Colombo, 1850, quarto. # ''Correspondence with Sir J. Emerson Tennent on the Botany of Ceylon''. # ''A Plan of the Summit of Adam's Peak''. # ''Scripture Botany of Ceylon'' (1859) # ''A Descriptive List of Ceylon Timber Trees'' (1863) # ''Ceylon Ferns'' (1872) # ''Reptile Fauna of Ceylon'' (1877).Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Ferguson, W.", p. 89). # ''Ceylon Ferns and Their Allies'' (1880) He also left materials for a monograph on luminous beetles, including fireflies and glowworms, and a vast mass of miscellaneous notes of a scientific character.

References

;Attribution * Endnotes: **Athenæum, 1887, ii. 287 **Times, 30 August 1887. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, William 1820 births 1887 deaths Sri Lankan botanists Sri Lankan entomologists Sri Lankan environmentalists Fellows_of_the_Geological_Society_of_London