William Stewart Mitchell D'Urban

William Stewart Mitchell D'Urban (born July 29, 1836 - January 20, 1934 ) was a British naturalist.

He was in Topsham in the county of Devon ( Cornwall born) and is a grandson of the British general and colonial official Sir Benjamin D'Urban . He spent most of his youth with his grandfather, initially in Wynberg , South Africa , and later in Canada . There he lost his hearing due to scarlet fever . During a year-long stay in King William's Town , South Africa, he and his parents collected butterflies and ferns from 1860–61 . In 1878 he conducted archaeological digs on the River Ax , where Stone Age tools were found. He was the first curator at the Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter . His fern collection with 593 leaves is now kept in the museum.

The butterfly genus Durbania , Trimen 1862, which now comprises two species , was named in his honor .

Works (selection)

• WSM D'Urban & Murray A. Mathew: The Birds of Devon, colored plates and photographic illustrations, original decoration cloth, gilt , 1892
• WSM D'Urban: The Zoology of Barents Sea , The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. October 34, 1880. Vol. VI. Fifth Series. London, 1880. Pages 253-277
• WSM D'Urban & Robert Bell: Contributions to Canadian natural history , 1860
• WSM D'Urban: On the order Lepidoptera, with the description of two species of Canadian butterflies , Can. Nat. & Geol. 2, 1857, pp. 223-236

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• Mary Gunn, LEW Codd: Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa. An Illustrated History of Early Botanical Literature on the Cape Flora, Biographical Accounts of the Leading Plant Collectors and Their Activities in Southern Africa from the Days of the East India Company Until Modern Times. Introductory Volume to the Flora of Southern Africa. Balkema, Cape Town 1981, ISBN 0-86961-129-1 , p. 142.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ University of Reading - Broom Excavations  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.