Abstract
THE vacancy in the Hope professorship of zoology at Oxford, caused by the resignation of Prof. E. B. Poulton, has been filled by the appointment of Dr. G. D. Hale Carpenter. Dr. Carpenter is widely known for his investigation of the bionomics of the tsetse fly, Glossina palpalis, a work undertaken by him between the years 1910 and 1914. During this time he resided first at Jin] a on the north shore of Victoria Nyanza, and afterwards on various islands, especially those of the Sesse archipelago, lying in the northwest corner of the lake. While the primary object of his living in this region was the study of the tsetse fly as the carrier of sleeping sickness, Dr. Carpenter found occasion to make many important observations on the natural history of the islands, especially in regard to the remarkable phenomena of mimicry shown by the swallow-tail butterfly, Papilio dardanus, and the series of forms of the nymphaline Pseudacraea euryths mimicking the acraeine genus Planema. At the outbreak of the War, he was called upon to act as medical officer to the forces operating on the southern frontier of Uganda, in German East Africa and Portuguese East Africa; and amidst the duties of active service he found opportunities for further fruitful observation, opportunities which were increased and turned to fresh account on his return to Uganda in 1918. His book “A Naturalist on Lake Victoria” was published in 1920. Dr. Carpenter's work has throughout been influenced and inspired by Prof. Poulton; and there is every reason for anticipating that the traditions of the Hope Department will be worthily carried on by the new professor.
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Dr. G. D. Hale Carpenter. Nature 131, 159 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/131159a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131159a0