Walter Wilson Froggatt
Encyclopedia
Walter Wilson Froggatt (13 June 1858 – 18 March 1937) was an Australia
n economic entomologist
.
, Victoria
, the son of George Wilson Froggatt, an English architect, and his wife Caroline, daughter of Giacomo Chiosso, who came from a noble Italian family. As a child Froggatt, who was delicate, was encouraged by his mother to find interests in the open air and at an early age began collecting insects. The family having moved to Bendigo, Victoria
he was educated at the Corporate High School, Sandhurst (Bendigo), and on leaving school spent four years on the land. In 1880 he went to a goldfield near Milparinka, New South Wales
, and then worked his way northward and through Queensland
to Mackay, Herberton, Cairns and other parts of the colony. Wherever he went he kept up his collecting of insects.
, and around this time contacted Charles French Senior
and Baron von Mueller
. It was partly through Mueller's good offices that Froggatt was appointed entomologist and assistant zoologist to the expedition sent to New Guinea
in 1885 by the Royal Geographical Society of New South Wales. The party left in June 1885 and returned on 4 December 1885. Early in 1886 Froggatt was engaged by William Macleay
as a collector. He at once proceeded to North Queensland and formed large collections. In March 1887 he went to north-west Australia, began collecting in the Derby
district and later in the more inland country. He returned to Derby after severe attacks of fever and then went to the Barrier Range to recover his health. Returning to the coast he took steamer on 22 February 1888 for Fremantle
and thence to Sydney
, where he arrived on 31 March 1888. Froggatt then went to England at the invitation of an uncle and gained much experience in European museums and universities. On his return he worked at the Macleay museum until it was transferred to the university, and in 1889 was appointed assistant and collector at the Sydney technological museum. From 1890 the first of a long series of papers by him was published in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Froggatt was a founder in 1891 and later president for a record eleven years of the Naturalists' Society of New South Wales. In 1896 he was appointed government entomologist to the agricultural department of New South Wales.
Froggatt's work was not confined to entomology, he was also vine inspector and later inspector under the vegetation diseases act. In the many papers he was writing at this time there is an increasing tendency for his attention to be given to insect pests. He published Australian Insects in 1907, the first comprehensive text-book on Australian entomology, and in this year was sent abroad to study the best ways of dealing with fruit flies, etc. His Report on Parasitic and Injurious Insects was published by the New South Wales department of agriculture in 1909. Also in 1909 he went to the Solomon Islands
to report on pests attacking coconut palms and sugar-cane, and in 1913 went on a similar mission to the New Hebrides
. From 1911–21 he lectured at the University of Sydney
. During the war he spent much time on the control of weevils in stored wheat, and in 1922 investigated pests attacking banana-trees in Queensland. He retired from the department of agriculture in 1923 but was forest entomologist in the department of forestry until his final retirement on 31 March 1927. His volume on Forest Insects of Australia was published in 1923; in the following four years many papers on forest entomology were also published, and in 1927 another volume, Forest Insects and Timber Borers, appeared.
, on 18 March 1937 and was cremated with Anglican rites. He married Ann Emily, daughter of John Lewis, in 1890, and was survived by a son, John Lewis Froggatt, entomologist to the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, and two daughters. One of the daughters, Gladys Harding Froggatt, was the author of The World of Little Lives (1916), and More About the World of Little Lives (1929).
Froggatt was a member of the council of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
for 40 years, president from 1911 to 1913. He gave enthusiastic support to the various scientific societies with which he was connected, and was much interested in the planting of Australian trees and in gardening generally. He had a fine collection of books on science and general literature. His collection of insects was acquired by the Commonwealth government and is now at Canberra
. He was a leading Australian entomologist and an untiring worker; Musgrave lists over 300 of his papers in his Bibliography. In addition to his books on entomology, Froggatt also published a volume on Some Useful Australian Birds in 1921.
Froggatt specialised in Scale insect
s Coccoidea.
(the school in which Froggatt's daughters attended) are named in his honour.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n economic entomologist
Economic entomology
Economic entomology is a field of entomology, which involves the study of insects that are of benefit or those that cause harm to humans, domestic animals, and crops. Insects that cause losses are termed as pests. Some species can cause indirect damage by spreading diseases and these are termed as...
.
Early life
Froggatt was born in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, the son of George Wilson Froggatt, an English architect, and his wife Caroline, daughter of Giacomo Chiosso, who came from a noble Italian family. As a child Froggatt, who was delicate, was encouraged by his mother to find interests in the open air and at an early age began collecting insects. The family having moved to Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo, Victoria
Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...
he was educated at the Corporate High School, Sandhurst (Bendigo), and on leaving school spent four years on the land. In 1880 he went to a goldfield near Milparinka, New South Wales
Milparinka, New South Wales
Milparinka is a small settlement in north-west New South Wales, Australia about north of Broken Hill on the Silver City Highway. At the time of the 2006 census, Milparinka had a population of 55 people....
, and then worked his way northward and through Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
to Mackay, Herberton, Cairns and other parts of the colony. Wherever he went he kept up his collecting of insects.
Career as entomologist
In 1883 Froggatt returned to Bendigo, worked with his father on a lease near Mount HopeMount Hope
There are several places named Mount Hope:in Antarctica*Mount Hope , a hill at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier*Mount Hope , a mountain in the Eternity Range, Palmer Landin Australia:* Mount Hope, New South Wales...
, and around this time contacted Charles French Senior
Charles French (entomologist)
Charles French was an Australian horticulturist, naturalist, entomologist and plant/seed collector who made significant contributions to economic entomology.-Early life:...
and Baron von Mueller
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
. It was partly through Mueller's good offices that Froggatt was appointed entomologist and assistant zoologist to the expedition sent to New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
in 1885 by the Royal Geographical Society of New South Wales. The party left in June 1885 and returned on 4 December 1885. Early in 1886 Froggatt was engaged by William Macleay
William John Macleay
Sir William John Macleay . was an Australian politician, zoologist and naturalist.-Early life:Macleay was born at Wick, Caithness, Scotland, second son of Kenneth Macleay of Keiss and his wife Barbara, née Horne...
as a collector. He at once proceeded to North Queensland and formed large collections. In March 1887 he went to north-west Australia, began collecting in the Derby
Derby, Western Australia
Derby is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. At the 2006 census, Derby had a population of 3,093. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000...
district and later in the more inland country. He returned to Derby after severe attacks of fever and then went to the Barrier Range to recover his health. Returning to the coast he took steamer on 22 February 1888 for Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
and thence to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, where he arrived on 31 March 1888. Froggatt then went to England at the invitation of an uncle and gained much experience in European museums and universities. On his return he worked at the Macleay museum until it was transferred to the university, and in 1889 was appointed assistant and collector at the Sydney technological museum. From 1890 the first of a long series of papers by him was published in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Froggatt was a founder in 1891 and later president for a record eleven years of the Naturalists' Society of New South Wales. In 1896 he was appointed government entomologist to the agricultural department of New South Wales.
Froggatt's work was not confined to entomology, he was also vine inspector and later inspector under the vegetation diseases act. In the many papers he was writing at this time there is an increasing tendency for his attention to be given to insect pests. He published Australian Insects in 1907, the first comprehensive text-book on Australian entomology, and in this year was sent abroad to study the best ways of dealing with fruit flies, etc. His Report on Parasitic and Injurious Insects was published by the New South Wales department of agriculture in 1909. Also in 1909 he went to the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
to report on pests attacking coconut palms and sugar-cane, and in 1913 went on a similar mission to the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
. From 1911–21 he lectured at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. During the war he spent much time on the control of weevils in stored wheat, and in 1922 investigated pests attacking banana-trees in Queensland. He retired from the department of agriculture in 1923 but was forest entomologist in the department of forestry until his final retirement on 31 March 1927. His volume on Forest Insects of Australia was published in 1923; in the following four years many papers on forest entomology were also published, and in 1927 another volume, Forest Insects and Timber Borers, appeared.
Late life and legacy
In Froggatt's last years he did much writing on popular science in the Sydney Morning Herald, in 1933 his The Insect Book, the first of a series ,of elementary "Nature Books" for children, was published at Sydney, and in 1935 Australian Spiders and Their Allies appeared. He died at Croydon, New South WalesCroydon, New South Wales
Croydon is an affluent suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Croydon is located 11 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. Croydon is split between the two local government areas of Burwood Council and the Municipality of Ashfield.The...
, on 18 March 1937 and was cremated with Anglican rites. He married Ann Emily, daughter of John Lewis, in 1890, and was survived by a son, John Lewis Froggatt, entomologist to the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, and two daughters. One of the daughters, Gladys Harding Froggatt, was the author of The World of Little Lives (1916), and More About the World of Little Lives (1929).
Froggatt was a member of the council of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
Linnean Society of New South Wales
The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales in 1874 and incorporated in 1884. It succeeded the Entomological Society of New South Wales, founded in 1862 and folded in...
for 40 years, president from 1911 to 1913. He gave enthusiastic support to the various scientific societies with which he was connected, and was much interested in the planting of Australian trees and in gardening generally. He had a fine collection of books on science and general literature. His collection of insects was acquired by the Commonwealth government and is now at Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. He was a leading Australian entomologist and an untiring worker; Musgrave lists over 300 of his papers in his Bibliography. In addition to his books on entomology, Froggatt also published a volume on Some Useful Australian Birds in 1921.
Froggatt specialised in Scale insect
Scale insect
The scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, generally classified as the superfamily Coccoidea. There are about 8,000 species of scale insects.-Ecology:...
s Coccoidea.
Works
Partial list- Notes on Australian Cynipidae, with descriptions of several new species. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 7: 152-156 (1892).
- Insects living in figs, with some account of caprification. Agric. Gaz. N. S. W. 11: 447-456, 1 pl. (1900).
- with Goding, F. W. Monograph of the Australian Cicadidae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 29(3): 561-670. (1904).
- The insects of the Kurrajong (Brachychiton populaneum). Agric. Gaz. N. S. W. 16: 226-234, 2 pls (1905).
- Australian Insects. 8vo. Pp. i-xiv, 1-449, 37 pls. Sydney.(1907).
- A new parasite on sheep-maggot flies. Notes and description of a chalcid parasite (Chalcis calliphorae). Qld. Agric. J. 6: 177-179 (1916).
- The Appleleaf Jassid (Empoasca australis). Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 29: 568-570. (1918).
- The digger chalcid parasite (Dirrhinus sarcophagae sp. n. on Sarcophaga aurifrons). Agric. Gaz. N. S. W. 30: 853-855 (1919).
- Sheep-maggot flies and their parasites. Agric. Gaz. N. S. W. 32: 725-731, 807-813 (1921).
- Notes on the Spiny Green Phasma (Extatosoma tiaratum). Australian Naturalist, Sydney, iv, 16, 1 October, pp. 235-237 (1921)
- Description of a new phasma belonging to the genus Extatosoma. Proc. Linn. Soc. NSW, 47: 344-345, pl. 38.(1922)Online
- Forest Insects of Australia. 8vo. Sydney. Pp. i-viii, 1-171, 2 col. pls., 44 full pls., 33 text-blocks. (1923)
- Forest insects and timber borers. Privately Published iv +107 pp. (1927).
Legacy
Froggatt Crescent in the Sydney suburb of Croydon, and the Froggatt Prize for Science at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, SydneyPresbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney
The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for girls in Croydon, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, Australia...
(the school in which Froggatt's daughters attended) are named in his honour.