THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



VoL.LV.] OC-TOBEB, 1922. [No. 713 



DAVID SHARP, M.A., M.B., F.R.S., Etc. 

 1840-1922. 

 (Plate III.) 



With the deepest feelings of regret we have to chronicle the 

 passing away in the person of David Sharp of one from the 

 very front rank of zoologists, and we would like to express our 

 sympathy with his family and other relatives in their loss — a 

 loss which will appeal also to many a naturalist. Sharp's 

 reputation as a learned and highly scientific entomologist was 

 world-wide, and he probably had few equals, if any, in his 

 favourite Order, the Coleoptera. He wrote largely, and has left 

 for those who follow in his steps a deep well of knowledge from 

 which to draw. Such as knew him personally were particularly 

 struck by the close touch and intimate association with living 

 things that were always revealed when he spoke of his experiences 

 in connection with insects and indeed with Nature in general. 

 Such experiences, scarcely capable of transmission by writing, 

 have gone to the grave with our late friend, and we cannot help 

 feeling that there is something unsatisfactory in the nature of 

 things, if so much of a man's life work, looked at from this 

 point of view, seems almost to have been done fn vain. 



David Sharp was born at Towcester on 18th October, 1840. 

 Some twelve years later his parents removed to London, where 

 therefore, as a boy he received his education. After attending 

 one or two preparatory schools, in 1853 he entered St. John's 

 Foundation School which was then at Kilburn. At the age of 

 seventeen he commenced to help his father, a leather merchant. 

 and about the same time he began collecting beetles, some of his 

 favourite haunts being Ken Wood and Hammersmith Marshes, 

 as well as the sandy shores about Deal and Dover. As it was 

 found that he had a great distaste for a business life, it was 

 decided that he should qualify as a doctor. He accordingly, 

 after studying for two years at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, went 

 to the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained the degree of 

 Bachelor of Medicine in 1866. After graduation he assisted a 

 friend with his practice in London for a year or two. He had 

 at first some thought of seeking an appointment in connection 

 with entomology at the British Museum, but abandoned the idea; 

 and about ten years later he went so far as to apply for the post 

 of Curator of "the City of Glasgow Industrial Museum, being 

 recommended by H. W. Bates and Frederick Smith amongel 



ENTOM. — OCTOBER, 1922. u 



