Edward Meyrick


Edward Meyrick FRS was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on Microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern Microlepidoptera systematics.
Edward Meyrick was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He actively pursued his hobby during his schooling, and one colleague stated in 1872 that Meyrick "has not left a lamp, a paling, or a tree unexamined in which a moth could possibly, at any stage of its existence, lie hid." Meyrick began publishing notes on microlepidopterans in 1875, but when in December, 1877 he gained a post at The King's School, Parramatta, New South Wales, there were greater opportunities for indulging his interest. He stayed in Australia for ten years before returning to England to teach classics at Marlborough College and become a corresponding member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. He was the author of Handbook of British Lepidoptera and Exotic Microlepidoptera, the latter consisting of four complete volumes and part of volume five. He also wrote a great number of academic articles.
Meyrick was a life-long member of the Conservative party, and spent twelve years as President of the East Wilts Unionist Association.
Meyrick was a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London and a Fellow of the Royal Society. During his lifetime, he may have described more than 20,000 species of Lepidoptera. His huge collection of specimens is at the Natural History Museum, London. It is believed that he had collected more specimens than anyone else.

Publications

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