Vol. XXIV] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 93 



William Forsell Kirby. 



(Portrait, PI. IV*) 



From The Entomologist, of London, for December, 1912, 

 we learn that this diligent and laborious entomologist died on 

 the 2Oth of November last. He was born in 1844, the son of 

 Samuel Kirby, banker, of Leicester, and after twelve years in 

 the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, came to the Zoo- 

 logical department of the British Museum of Natural History 

 in 1879, where he remained for thirty years, until his retire- 

 ment, in 1909. 



He published on many groups of insects, the Lepidoptera 

 being perhaps his favorite order. One of his early works was 

 a Manual of European Butterflies (1862), while he was a col- 

 laborator on Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World, now pub- 

 lishing and recently reviewed in these columns. 



The students of the Lepidoptera owe a large debt of grati- 

 tude to Mr. Kirby for the production of two works of very 

 great value. A Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera, 

 published in 1871, with a Supplement in 1877, did much to 

 advance the study of these insects. It was invaluable both to 

 the collector and the systematist, and very frequently con- 

 sulted by both. Even though other catalogues appear, Kirby's 

 will probably always be of use. In the same category is his 

 Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera : I. Sphinges and Bomby- 

 ces. This work of 951 pages was published in 1892 and was 

 twenty years in preparation. Accurate and up-to-date cata- 

 logues are essential to study and some branches of entomology 

 are greatly retarded by the lack of such works. lie wrote A 

 Hand-book of the Order Lepidoptera (1894-1897), and. in 

 conjunction with H. G. Smith. Rhopalocera Exotica in three 

 volumes (1887-1902). This latter is a beautifully illustrated 

 work, in color, and contains descriptions of many species. He 



*Our portrait is taken from a photograph sent by Mr. Kirby about 

 1896. In a letter of June 6, 1906, he mentions that "Thomas Wright 

 has just given a portrait of me in his new life of Sir Richard Burton, 

 with a notice, in which, however, there are several misprints." Another 

 portrait has appeared in the Entomologist for January, 1913. 



