author
Thomas Vernon Wollaston
1822–1878
Best known for studying beetles and other small creatures of Atlantic islands, this 19th-century English naturalist turned careful fieldwork into books that still matter to historians of science. His travels in Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Verde, and St Helena helped build his reputation as a leading entomologist and malacologist.
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About the author
Born on March 9, 1822, at Scotter in Lincolnshire, Thomas Vernon Wollaston became an English entomologist and malacologist with a special gift for close observation. He is most often remembered for his work on Coleoptera — beetles — especially the species living on isolated North Atlantic islands.
Wollaston made several research trips to Madeira while still a young man, and he later studied the insect life of places including the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and St Helena. Among his best-known books are Insecta Maderensia and On the Variation of Species, with Especial Reference to the Insecta, works that show both his passion for collecting and his interest in the bigger question of how species differ from place to place.
He died on January 4, 1878. Though not as famous today as some of his contemporaries, Wollaston left behind a rich record of island natural history, and his writing offers a vivid window into Victorian science at work in the field.