William Forsell Kirby

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William Forsell Kirby (January 14, 1844 - November 20, 1912^[1]) was an English entomologist and folklorist.

Born in Leicester, he was educated privately, and became interested in butterflies and moths at an early age. He published a small Manual of European Butterflies in 1862.

In 1867 he became a curator in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, and produced a Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera (1871; Supplement 1877).

In 1879 Kirby joined the staff of the Natural History Museum as an Assistant after the death of Frederick Smith. He published a number of catalogues, as well as Rhopalocera Exotica (1887-1897) and an Elementary Text-book of Entomology. He retired in 1909.

Kirby had a wide range of interests, knew many languages and translated (for the first time directly from Finnish, as opposed to from another language) the Finnish epic, Kalevala, into English.

Contents 1 Works and Achievements 1.1 Entomology 1.2 Literary 2 Notes 3 External links

[edit] Works and Achievements

[edit] Entomology

• Manual of European Butterflies. 1862
• Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. 1871
• Catalogue of the collection of diurnal Lepidoptera formed by the late William Chapman Hewitson of Oatlands, Walton on Thames; and bequeathed by him to the British Museum. London, John Van Voorst. iv + 246 pp.[[18
• Familiar butterflies and moths. 1901
• Butterflies and moths of Europe (Illustrated). 1903
• Elementary Text-book of Entomology.
• Hand-book to the order Lepidoptera. 1897
• Marvels of Ant Life. Circa 1890s

He is also credited on a few other works:

• Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera by William Chapman Hewitson 1863
• Natural history. by Richard Lydekker 1897

[edit] Literary

• Kalevala the Land of Heroes. 1907. ISBN 978-0-674-50000-6
• The Hero of Esthonia? and other studies in the romantic literature of that country. 1895
• Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights and Their Imitations (An appendix to Volume 10 to Richard F. Burton's translation of The Nights. 1886

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Who's Who 1914, p. xxii

[edit] External links

• The Natural History Museum at South Kensington William T. Stearn ISBN 0-434-73600-7
• A handbook to the order Lepidoptera Scanned version
• Elementary Text-book of Entomology Scanned version
• A manual of European butterflies, on the plan of Stainton's manual of British butterflies and moths the ill. by T. W. Wood Scanned version
• A synonymic catalogue of diurnal lepidoptera / by W. F. Kirby Scanned version
• A synonymic catalogue of neuroptera odonata, or dragonflies : with an appendix of fossil species Scanned version
• A synonymic catalogue of lepidoptera heterocera (moths.). Vol. I, Sphinges and bombyces Scanned version
• The Hero of Esthonia
• Works by William Forsell Kirby at Project Gutenberg