Abstract
THE death of the distinguished entomologist, Col. Charles Swinhoe, who had for many years past been recognised as a leading authority on the Lepidoptera of the Indian region, took place on December 2 at his residence at West Kensington. Born on August 29, 1836, of a family which has produced more than one distinguished zoologist, Col. Swinhoe entered the army in his nineteenth year as an ensign of the 56th Regiment. Shortly after the end of the Mutiny, the young officer was dispatched to India, and was gazetted to the Bombay Staff Corps, in which he served for upwards of thirty years, and was with Lord Roberts in the historic march to Kandahar. The rich and varied Indian fauna soon engaged his attention, and he became an enthusiastic student of the Lepidoptera, of which order of insects he formed one of the largest and most comprehensive collections in existence; though his energies were by no means confined to entomology, as is shown by several able memoirs on Indian birds from his pen. In collaboration with Mr. E. C. Cotes, of the Indian Museum, he published the first great “Catalogue of the Moths of India (Calcutta, 1887-89), and also gave much assistance in the compilation of the “Lepidoptera Indica,” this work having been completed by him after the death of its principal author, Dr. Frederic Moore.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
W., J. Col. C. Swinhoe. Nature 113, 21 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/113021a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/113021a0