John Gilchrist (zoologist)

John Dow Fisher Gilchrist (1866–1926) was a Scottish ichthyologist, noted for his work in South Africa. He was born in Anstruther, Fife, Scotland, and died at Saint James, Cape Town, South Africa.[1]

He studied at St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Munich and Zurich, obtaining a Ph.D. at Jena University, Germany in 1894. He studied marine biology in Naples, Monaco and the Isle of Man before returning to teach zoology at the University of Edinburgh. During this time he translated Monismus als Band zwischen Religion und Wissenschaft, by Ernst Haeckel, into English.

John Gilchrist held the post of Professor and Director of Fisheries and Marine Biological Survey of South Africa, in Cape Town.[2] For much of his tenure William Wardlaw Thompson was his assistant and Thompson co-authored many important papers with Gilchrist, including The Freshwater Fishes of South Africa (1913–18) and A catalogue of the sea fishes recorded from Natal (1914-17).[3]

He is the recognised authority for many genera and species of fish, such as Paralichthodes algoensis, the peppered flounder.[4] His standard abbreviation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is Gilchrist.

The genus Gilchristella, a member of the Clupeidae (herring) family, was named in 1935 in his honour.[1]

Selected publications

  • The Blenniidae of South Africa Part 2 of Volume 6 of the Annals of the South African Museum (Trustees of the South African Museum, 1908) (with William Wardlaw Thompson)
  • South African Zoology. A Text Book for the Use of Students, Teachers and Others in South Africa (Cape Town and Pretoria, 1912)
  • The Freshwater Fishes of South Africa: Volume 11, Parts 5-6 of Annals of the South African Museum (Trustees of the South African Museum, 1913) (with William Wardlaw Thompson)

Practical zoology for medical & junior students (E. & S. Livingstone, 1922)

Translations from the German

  • Monism (1894)
  • Confessions of faith of a man of science (1903)

References

  1. 1 2 "John Dow Fisher Gilchrist". Neglected Science. 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "John Dow Fisher Gilchrist". Archives Catalogue. Natural History Museum. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  3. ↑ C. Plug. "Thompson, Mr William Wardlaw (ichthyology)". S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Paralichthodes algoensis Gilchrist, 1902". Fishbase. Retrieved 18 January 2014.



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