Eliza Fanny Staveley (1831–1903),[1] published as E.F. Staveley, was a British entomologist, arachnologist,[2] and author.[1] Her work British Insects (1871) was favourably reviewed by Alfred Russel Wallace in Nature.[3]
Life
Insect wings, illustrating a paper prepared by E.F. Staveley and read to the Linnean Society of London on 21 June 1860.
Eliza Fanny Staveley was born in Kensington, London in 1831,[4] to Thomas Staveley and Eliza Wowski (née Dickenson[5]).[6]
During the 1860s, Stavely conducted anatomical studies of spiders and hymenopterous insects, focusing particularly on the study of hooks on insect wings and teeth in spiders.[7] Entomologist Frederick Smith, who worked in the zoology department of the British Museum, assisted Staveley in providing a collection of wings for study.[8] Staveley was an associate of naturalist John Edward Gray,[7] who read papers she had prepared to the Linnean[8] and Zoological Societies of London.[7]
Following the publication of British Insects in 1871, naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace reviewed the work for the journal Nature. He wrote that he could:
conscientiously recommend this book as admirably adapted to lead its readers to observe for themselves the varied phenomena presented by insects, and thus to become true entomologists.[3]
Horticulturist Theresa Earle also wrote favourably of her 1866 work British Spiders, describing it as:
a very good book... which would tell all that anyone might want to know about these insects. The first page illustrates spiders' heads, with the varying numbers of eyes the different kinds possess.[9]
Eliza Fanny Staveley died in 1903 in Tunbridge Wells, aged 72.[10]
'Observations on the neuration of the hind wings of Hymenopterous insects: and on the hooks which join the fore and hind wings together in flight' (1860)
'Notes on the Form of the Comb (Pecten) in Different Andrenidae and Apidae, and on the Alar Hooks of the Species of Sphecodes and Halictus' (1862) in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London
British spiders: an introduction to the study of the Araneidae of Great Britain and Ireland (1866)
'Note on the presence of teeth on the Maxillæ of Spiders' (1866) in The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany, and geology Vol. 17, No. 3
British Insects: a familiar description of the form, structure, habits, and transformations of insects (1871)
References
^ a b"British insects: a familiar description of the form, structure, habits, and transformations of Tweet added by NHM Library&Archives - Download Photos". Twaku. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^ a b"Staveley's British Insects, by Alfred Russel Wallace". people.wku.edu. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^"1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census". FindMyPast. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^"England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975". FindMyPast. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^"Thomas Staveley". www.myheritage.com. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^ a b cCreese, Mary R. S.; Creese, Thomas M. (1998). Ladies in the laboratory? American and British women in science, 1800-1900: a survey of their contributions to research. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-585-27684-6. OCLC 36386419.
^ a bTransactions of the Linnean Society. Missouri Botanical Garden. London: Linnean Society of London. 2 March 1791.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Earle, Mrs. C. W. (5 June 2015). More pot-pourri from a Surrey garden. Cambridge. ISBN 978-1-107-74187-4. OCLC 912407580.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007". FindMyPast. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^"Catalog Results for: Staveley". www.biodiversitylibrary.org. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
