Antwerp Edgar Pratt
Antwerp Edgar Pratt FRGS | |
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| Born | 6 March 1852 |
| Died | 4 January 1924 Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey |
| Nationality | British |
Antwerp Edgar Pratt
Biography
Pratt was born on 6 March 1852 on the Isle of Wight in England to Charles, a grocer, and Ann Pratt. He had two elder siblings, Florence and Vienna.
He married Alice Mary Spanner in 1882 and they had six children, four sons and two daughters. Felix Pratt and Charles Pratt followed their father and became successful insect collectors. His other sons Henry and Joseph also made important contributions to science.
He was a member of the
In 1892 he published an account of his journey "to the snows of Tibet through China".[3] This book is thought to show that Pratt did not actually get to Tibet but he only got close enough to meet the missionaries who had been ejected from the country. Incidentally Pratt's book is thought to be a source for the work of Vladimir Nabokov.[4]
He died in 1924 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, aged 71.
Expeditions
In the course of thirty years of almost continuous journeyings in both hemispheres, it has been my fortune to stray far from the beaten tracks and to know something of the spell and mystery of the earth’s solitudes. My work in quest of additions to the great natural history collections, both public and private, of England, and to a less extent of France, has led me to the Rocky Mountains, the Amazons, the Republic of Columbia, the Yangtze gorges and the snows of Tibet. It is safe to say that none of these has aroused my interest and curiosity in so great a degree as the scene of my latest and my next expedition, the still almost unexplored Papua, second largest of the world’s islands and almost the last to guard its secrets from the geographer, the naturalist and the anthropologist.
A.E. Pratt, 1906. Introduction to Two Years among New Guinea Cannibals.
Benefactors
Antwerp Edgar Pratt and his sons travelled and collected specimens on behalf of a number of prominent people including the English entomologists John Henry Leech, Sir George Hamilton Kenrick and James John Joicey as well as Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild.
Collections
Birmingham Museums Trust holds substantial natural history collections gathered by A. E. Pratt and his sons.
Species named after Pratt
- Pratt's roundleaf bat Hipposiderous pratti, 1891[5]
- Pratt's vole (Alt. the Sichuan Red-backed Vole) Eothenomys chinensis, 1891[5]
- Pratt's crabapple Malus prattii 1895
- Pratt's snail eater Dipsas pratti, 1897[6]
- Pratt's rocket frog Colostethus pratti, 1899[1]
- Sphenomorphus pratti, 1903[6][7]
- Pratt's tree frog Litoria pratti, 1911[1]
- Green acouchi Myoprocta pratti, 1913[5]
- Ceram bandicoot Rhynchomeles prattorum, 1920 (Named for his sons)[5]
- Buru opalescent birdwing butterfly Troides prattorum, 1922
- Delias pratti, 1922
Publications
- Pratt, A.E. (1892). To the Snows of Tibet through China. London: Longmans.[3]
- Pratt, A.E. (1906). Two Years among New Guinea Cannibals, a Naturalists Sojourn among the Aborigines of Unexplored New Guinea. London: Seeley & Co.[8]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-907807-44-2.
- ISBN 978-0-674-03668-0.
- ^ a b Pratt, Antwerp Edgar (1892). To the Snows of Tibet Through China. Longmans, Green and Company.
- ^ Zimmer, Dieter E. "Chinese Rhubarb and Caterpillars". International Vladimir Nabokov Symposium St. Petersburg, July 18, 2002. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8018-9533-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Pratt", p. 211).
- ^ Species Sphenomorphus pratti at The Reptile Database . www.reptile-database.org.
- ^ Pratt, Antwerp Edgar (1906). Two years among New Guinea cannibals: a naturalist's sojourn among the aborigines of unexplored New Guinea. Seeley & co., limited.
External links
- Joicey J, Talbot G (1924). The Bulletin of the Hill Museum. Volume 1. 1921-1924. London: John Bale & Sons.
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