Alexander Walter Scott

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Alexander Walker Scott was an Australian entomologist mainly interested in butterflies

Alexander Walker Scott was born 10 November 1800 in Bombay and died 1 November 1883.

A failed entrepreneur, who, later, was a prominent figure in the commercial establishment of the Newcastle region he lived at Ash Island, on the Hunter River, with his wife, formerly Harriet Colcott, a seamstress and his two daughters Harriet (1830–1907) and Helena (1832–1910) Scott, both born in Sydney. At Ash Island the sisters helped their father in his entomological work, collecting, preparing and drying specimens of plants and insects, and also accepted painting, drawing and lithography commissions from Australian naturalists including Gerard Krefft, William Macleay, Thomas Mort, Edward Pierson Ramsay, William Woolls and Ferdinand von Mueller.

The Scott sisters’ was established with the publication of Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, drawn from the life by Harriet and Helena Scott which illustrated insects in the stages of metamorphosis, in the environment in which they lived and fed. This work, published in 1864, was time-consuming and expensive and publication was delayed for 12 years. Although published (in London : John van Voorst) under Alexander Walker Scott it was an entirely collaborative work as it's title states.

Alexander Walker Scott was a trustee of the Australian Museum 1862-79 and a Fellow of The Entomological Society of New South Wales, founded in 1862, as were both Helena and Harriet, though in their case it was honorary, a rare distinction.

[edit] Works

  • Description of an ovo-viviparous moth, belonging to the genus Tinea. Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1: 33-36 (1863).
  • Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, drawn from the life by Harriet and Helena Scott. 1. London : John van Voorst [ii]+36 pp., pls 1-9.(1864).
  • On the "Agrotis vastator", a species of moth, now infesting the sea-board of New South Wales. Trans. Ent. Soc. London 2: 40-48 (1869).
  • Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, with illustrations drawn from the life by his daughters, Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde. Edited and revised by Arthur Sidney Olliff and Helena Forde. Sydney : Australian Museum 2 volumes.

[edit] References

Ord, M. (1988). Historical drawings of Moths and Butterflies. Ash Island series volume 1 Harriet and Helena Scott. Sydney : Craftsman House 147 pp.

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