October, 1905. 1 291 



J. W. DOUGLAS. 



John William Douglas, the son of David Douglas, of Tranent, 

 near Edinburgh, was born at Putney on November 15th, 1814. He 

 was educated at a private school, remaining there until he w^as 

 fifteen, when he sustained a very serious injury, the result of 

 a thoughtless practical joke of one of his schoolfellows. He was 

 returning home on November 5th with a pocket full of crackers, 

 which his schoolfellow set alight ; they exploded and burnt his thigh 

 so severely that he had to keep his bed for two years. During this 

 time he turned his attention to Botany, drawing the specimens he 

 collected with great facility, and becoming so keen on his subject, 

 that when convalescent he applied for and obtained employment at 

 Kew in order that he might have the benefit of the best botanical 

 teachers. He was at Kew only for a few years, as his father, with the 

 help of Lady de Grey's influence, obtained for him a situation in the 

 Customs House, where he rose to a high position, retiring at the age 

 of seventj", after more than fifty years' service. Mr. Gladstone before 

 introducing his bill dealing with duties on light wines sent him on 

 a continental tour to report on the various grape cultures, and on his 

 return personally thanked him, and gave him a special Treasury grant 

 of £100. 



The heavy cicatrix formed by his severe burn necessitated 

 numerous operations 'throughout his life, and the enforced leisure 

 enabled him to gain a proficiency in German and French, which 

 proved of extreme value to him, both in his ofiicial and Entomological 

 capacities. 



He married in 1843, residing at first at Camberwell, but after- 

 wards for many years he lived at Lee and Lewisham. 



He began collecting insects when at Kew, and published his first 

 paper in the Entomological Magazine for 1837, entitled, '" Handom 

 Thoughts on Entomology." For many years his attention was chiefly 

 directed towards the Lepidoptera, although he published papers on 

 Coleoptera and other Orders. Most of his early writings on Lepid- 

 optera, &c., are to be found in the pages of the Entomologist's 

 Weekly Intelligencer, and many of the younger generation of Ento- 





