George Latimer Bates
George Latimer Bates (* 1863 in Illinois ; † January 31, 1940 in Chelmsford , England ) was an ornithologist , botanist and naturalist .
Life
George Latimer Bates attended Knox College in Galesburg and then after graduating in 1885 the Chicago Theological Seminary , where he graduated in 1891. After a few years as a teacher in South Dakota , he went to West Africa in 1895 to study the flora and fauna there. In Africa he began collecting zoological and botanical specimens first in Gabon and what is now the Republic of the Congo , at that time both belonging to the colony of French Equatorial Africa , and later in the German colony of Cameroon . After a brief return to the USA, he settled in Bitye, Cameroon near the Dja in 1905 , from where he undertook further botanical and zoological expeditions. Further expeditions took him to Nigeria and Lake Chad . In 1928 Bates left Africa and moved to Chelmsford, England. His collection was cataloged in the British Museum , now the Natural History Museum . In 1930 Bates wrote the Handbook of the birds of West Africa , before he set off again in 1931 on a research trip to Africa, which took him from Konni along the Niger north to the Sahara . The results of the trip were published in the ornithological journal Ibis . On his return in 1932 he devoted himself to work in the British Museum, where he identified and cataloged specimens of birds collected by Harry St. John Philby , among others . At Philby's invitation, he traveled to Jeddah in 1934 to do further research on the Arabian Peninsula . His last book Birds of Arabia remained unpublished, but was used by Richard Meinertzhagen for his own book Birds of Arabia , published in 1954 .
Various animals were named after George Latimer Bates (selection):
- Black Swift ( Apus batesi )
- Wood Nightjar ( Caprimulgus batesi )
- Monochrome nectar bird ( Cinnyris batesi )
- Brown-cheeked weaver ( Ploceus batesi )
- Batesbucks ( Nesotragus batesi )
- Bate slit nose ( Nycteris arge )
Works
- Handbook of the Birds of West Africa , (1930)
literature
- Obituary for George Latimer Bates . In: Ibis . 82, No. 2, April 1940, pp. 343-348.
- Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals JHU Press, 2009, ISBN 9780801893049 , p. 31
Web links
- Natural History Museum , accessed September 12, 2017.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bates, George Latimer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American-British ornithologist, botanist and naturalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1863 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 31, 1940 |
| Place of death | Chelmsford , England |