429 
IY. 
WILLIAM ARDERON, F.R.S., AN OLD NORWICH 
-7 " Naturalist. 
By F. Kitton, Hon. F.R.M.S. 
Read 29 th January, 1878. 
One of the most important services that can be remlereil by local 
Natural History Societies, is the. preservation of the memories and 
labours of the humbler workers in the field of biological science, 
especially of those who “once dwelt in our midst.” 
Many painstaking observers have left no published record of 
their labours : they neither wished for nor expected the luxury of 
seeing their name in print, and their written memoranda were no 
doubt destroyed after their death, and w r e only know of their 
existence by the occurrence of their names in the books of their 
more celebrated co-labourers, noticed gefterally after this fashion : 
“ The ingenious Mr. So and So, of Norwich, sends me the follow- 
ing account, etc.” 
The subject of the present memoir has however been more 
fortunate, as he contributed largely to the Philosophical Transac- 
tions, through the medium of his friend Mr. Henry Baker. Of 
his private history I have been able to learn little more than that 
given in ‘A General History of the County of Norfolk’ (by 
Chambers), printed by and for John Stacy, Norwich, 1829. In 
his ‘ History of Norwich Worthies’ occurs the following notice of 
William Arderon, F.R.S. (vol. ii, p. 1307). 
“William Arderon, F.R.S., born 1703, was not a native of 
Norwich, but came from Yorkshire, in the capacity of an officer of 
excise. His natural ability soon discovered itself, and introduced 
him to the notice of Dr. Buckenham, Alderman Wiggett, Alderman 
Rogers, Mr. Norris, and several other gentlemen, who it is supposed 
