Richard Austin Bastow

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Richard Austin Bastow (14 May 1839 - 14 May 1920), was an Australian naturalist and bryologist.

R.A. Barstow was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of a clergyman. He was educated at The Royal Grammar School [1]. In 1862 he eloped with Catherine Broadbent to America. He later returned to England with his wife, then emigrated to Tasmania, where in 1884 he became Town Surveyor in Hobart.

In 1888 Barstow moved to Victoria, eventually joining the Public Works Department. He was largely responsible for the original Melbourne Fish Market.

It was in Tasmania that Barstow became interested in bryology. His definitive work, Mosses of Tasmania, was published in Hobart in 1886. Other significant works followed over the years. His last paper was Victorian Hepaticae in 1914, the pioneer paper in the field for that Australian state

Barstow was a member of the Field Naturalists Club and Royal Society of Victoria, and of the Linnean Society of London.

The following species are named after Barstow:

Cyclostrema bastowi

Orbitestella bastowi

Daphnella bastowi

Asperdaphne bastowi

His main collection is in the Melbourne Herbarium, other collections in the Museum of Victoria.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Museum of Victoria
• University of Melbourne
• Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory
• Australasian Bryological Newsletter, Number 40, June 1999.
• Victorian Nature, Sept. 1914.