James Charles Dale

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James Charles Dale
British naturalist
Mr J C Dale
Born(1791-12-13)13 December 1791
Iwerne Minster, Dorset
Died6 February 1872(1872-02-06) (aged 80)
NationalityBritish
OccupationNaturalist
Years active~1800 to 1872
Notable workOxford's Dalean Collection

James Charles Dale (13 December 1791 – 6 February 1872) was an

naturalist who devoted almost all of his adult life to entomology
.

Family

Dale was the only son of Dorset landowner James Dale of

entomologist and electrical engineer when the use of electricity was still in its infancy.[2]

Career

Lulworth skipper

Dale received his education at Wimborne Grammar School and Sidney Sussex College Cambridge University receiving his MA in 1818. He was a magistrate. On one occasion a cloud of butterflies was released into Dale's magistrate court. His most famous discovery was the Lulworth skipper.[3]

He was a friend of

Coleoptera though Dale worked on all Orders.[3]

His first note, on Lepidoptera was published, in the Magazine of Natural History in 1830. This was followed by some 83 further notes and articles covering a wide range of topics.

He was elected a member of the first

for 1843.

Collections

Dale's collection is in the

Hope Department of Entomology.The Dalean collection was housed in 33 cabinets when it was received at Oxford in 1906, of which five cabinets were devoted to Coleoptera. Included in the latter are four drawers of Thomas Vernon Wollaston
beetles from Madeira, Cape Verde, Canary Islands and St. Helena. It is still housed separately from the main collections. Dale's manuscripts and notebooks are in the Hope Library.

Works

Partial list

  • 1834- The authorship of many insects described by Dale in British Entomology is often given to Curtis, however it is clearly stated by Curtis that the authorship is Dale's and from "Dale MSS"
  • 1834 A List of the more rare of the Species of Insects found on Parley Heath, on the Borders of Hampshire Loudon's Magazine of Natural History.
  • 1841 Beris Morrisii of Curtis's Guide Entomologist. 1(1840–1842): 175-
  • 1842. Descriptions, &c. of a few rare or undescribed species of British Diptera, principally from the collection of J. C. Dale, Esq., M. A., F. L. S., &c. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 8: 430–433.
  • Dale, J.C. 1863. Miscellaneous captures near Tenby. The Weekly Entomologist, 2: 262–263.
  • Catalogue of the Coleopterous Insects of Dorsetshire', in Nat., 2, 1837, pp. 408–415, and 3, 1838, pp. 12–18.

References

  1. ^ E. Walford, The county families of the United Kingdom, Robert Hardwick, London, 1860
  2. ^ Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great ..., Volume 1 Harrison, Pall Mall, London. 1894
  3. ^

Obituary notices

  • Anon, 1872 Entomologists Monthly Magazine 8, 1872, pp. 255–56
  • Anon, 1872 Petites Nouv. Ent., 4, p. 197.
  • Newman, E., 1872 Entomologist 6, 1872, p. 56
  • Westwood, J.O., 1872 Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London

External links