Edward Wesley Janson (14 March 1822 - 14 September 1891) was an English entomologist who specialised in beetles.

Edward Wesley Janson
Born(1822-03-14)March 14, 1822
DiedSeptember 14, 1891(1891-09-14) (aged 69)

The Janson family was of Dutch origin and Edward Wesley Janson's father was the London Agent of the Dutch Rhenish Railway Company.

A keen entomologist, Janson was elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of London in 1843. In 1850 he was appointed curator of the Society's collections, a post he held until 1863. He was then the Society's librarian until 1874.

Insect Collection Diptera. Box supplied by the Janson's natural history company

In 1852 he started a natural history business, Janson & Sons, selling books and specimens. He also became a publisher, first initiating the Journal of Entomology (published by Taylor and Francis in 14 parts from 1862-1866), then Cistula Entomologica (29 parts, from 1869–1885). He also published a volume of British Beetles in 1863, with illustrations from John Curtis' British Entomology.

Janson also assembled a collection of world click beetles (Elateridae), consisting of 25,000 specimens of which 1000 were original types.

The Janson company archive is conserved in the Natural History Museum in London.[1]

His eldest son, Edward Mason Janson (1847–1880), was a famous English entomologist too, and became curator of the Entomological Society of London[2]

References edit

  1. ^ Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  2. ^ "The Jansons, a family of Entomologists | History Entomology". www.collector-secret.com. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  • The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum Vol. II, Separate Historical accounts of the Historical Collections included in the Department of Zoology. William Clowes and Sons Ltd. London, (1906)
  • The Jansons, a family of entomologists, Peter Andrews
  • Anonym 1891 [Janson, E. W.] Entomologist's Monthly Magazine(3) 27 278.
  • Anonym 1891 [Janson, E. W.] Ent. Rec. J. Var. 2 223.
  • Anonym 1891: [Janson, E. W.] - Entomologist 24 252.
  • Jordan, K. (1913) The Oriental Anthribidae of the Van de Poll collection. Novitates Zoologicae 20(2), 257–277."The family of Anthribidae of the van de Poll collection which we bought from Messrs. 0. E. Janson & Sons comprises a little over three thousand specimens, most of which came from the Oriental Region".