Frank Wall (herpetologist)

Frank Wall (21 April 1868 – 19 May 1950[1]) was a physician and herpetologist who lived in Sri Lanka and India.[2]

Wall was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). His father, George Wall, worked there and was responsible for initiating the study of natural history on the island. Frank studied medicine in London and joined the Indian Medical Service in 1893.[3] Sent to India under the British Raj, Wall continued to work there until 1925 and researched many animals, especially snakes.[3] He collected numerous snakes, many of which are now in the British Museum.[4]

Wall was a member of the Bombay Natural History Society and published more than 200 scientific articles, as well as the book A Popular Treatise on the Common Indian Snakes.[5] He described approximately 30 new species of snakes.[6]

Frank Wall died in Bournemouth, England.[1]

Wall is commemorated in the scientific names of five reptiles: Boiga ochracea walli, Bungarus sindanus walli, Cyrtodactylus walli, Dinodon rufozonatum walli, and Hypnale walli.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Deaths" (PDF). British Medical Journal (4664): 1279. 27 May 1950. PMC 2038092.
  2. ↑ Smith, Malcolm A. (1943). The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-region. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. III.—Serpentes. London: Secretary of State for India (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 583 pp. ("Author's Preface", p. v).
  3. 1 2 3 Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Wall", p. 279).
  4. ↑ "Herpetology of an antique land: the history of herpetological explorations and knowledge in India and South Asia" (PDF). Bonner zoologische Beitrage. 52: 215–219. 2004.
  5. ↑ Campden-Main, Simon (1969). Bibliography of the herpetological papers of Frank Wall (1868-1950) 1898-1928. Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service, 16. Smithsonian Institution.
  6. ↑ "Wall". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.


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