Abstract
MR. DAVID DILWYN JOHN, who is succeeding Sir Cyril Fox as director of the National Museum of Wales, is a graduate of the University of Wales. He served as a zoologist on the staff of the Discovery Investigations during 1925-35, making three voyages to the Antarctic, and was later awarded the Polar Medal. In the course of one of these commissions, while he was in charge of the scientific work, the first winter circumnavigation of the southern continent was made. His researches into the development and distribution of southern Euphausiidae, based on material much of which he had himself collected, resulted in a report which is a fundamental contribution to our knowledge of the natural history of these important Antarctic crustaceans. On appointment to the British Museum (Natural History) in 1935, Mr. John was put in charge of the collections of Echinoderms, and his principal publications in recent years have been related to the subject of his specialization. In particular, he has concentrated on collections of Crinoidea made by such expeditions as the Discovery, Scotia, Belgica and the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Expedition in high latitudes, and besides the taxonomic results obtained, themselves of great value, he has thrown much interesting light on viviparity in the Crinoidea and the care of the brood by the parent animal. A Territorial Army officer prior to the War, he was on military service until 1946 ; he became a deputy keeper in the Department of Zoology in February of this year.
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National Museum of Wales : Mr. D. Dilwyn John. Nature 161, 840 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161840c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161840c0