William Elford Leach

William Elford Leach ( born February 2, 1790 in Plymouth, † August 26, 1836 at Palazzo San Sebastiano in Tortona ) was a British zoologist and marine biologist.

At the age of twelve he went to Exeter to school to study anatomy and chemistry. Already at this time he collected samples from Plymouth Sound and along the Devon coast. At 17 he began at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London studying medicine and ultimately finished his education after further studies at the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews.

His old interest in zoology awoke again ( circa 1813), after which he became assistant librarian of the Zoological Department of the British Museum. During this time he busied himself to arrange and sort out collections. Many of them were, since they had been brought to the museum by Hans Sloane, little or no attention. Some time later he got the job of assisting the Head of the Natural History Department and was an expert on molluscs and crustaceans. In addition, he dealt with insects, mammals and birds.

Leach's naming were something special: He named 27 species according to his friend John Cranch ( 1758-1816 ), who collected many African species, and later died on the HMS Congo. In 1818 he named nine genera according to Caroline and variations of this name, maybe this was the name of his wife.

In 1817 he became a member of the Royal Society in London. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1821, which was probably due to overwork. In March 1822, he left the museum and was brought up by his older sister to the mainland, where he is expected to recover. They traveled through France, Italy and Greece. North of Genoa, Palazzo San Sebastiano in Tortona, he died of cholera.

To his credit, the species Dacelo leachii was named.

Works

  • The zoological miscellany. E. Nodder & Son, London 1814-17.
  • Malacostraca podophthalmata Britanniae or Descriptions of seeking British species of the Linnean genus Cancer as have elevated Their Eyes on foot talks. Sowerby, London 1815-75 ( p.m. )
  • Systematic Catalogue of the specimens of the indigenous mammalia and birds did are preserved in the British Museum. London 1816.
  • On the genera and species of Eproboscideous insects and on the arrangement of Oestrideous insects. Neill, Edinburgh 1817.
  • Molluscorum Britanniae synopsis. A synopsis of the mollusca of Great Britain. (written 1820), van Voorst, London 1852 (pm)
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