william monod crawford, b.a., f.r.e.s., f.z.s. 1872-1941

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William Monod Crawford, B.A., F.R.E.S., F.Z.S. 1872-1941 Author(s): G. W. Source: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 7, No. 12 (Sep., 1941), pp. 336-337 Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25533071 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 02:58 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Irish Naturalists' Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 62.122.79.21 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:58:01 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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William Monod Crawford, B.A., F.R.E.S., F.Z.S. 1872-1941Author(s): G. W.Source: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 7, No. 12 (Sep., 1941), pp. 336-337Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25533071 .

Accessed: 14/06/2014 02:58

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The IrishNaturalists' Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.79.21 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:58:01 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

336 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. VII.

OBITUARY.

WILLIAM MONOD CRAWFORD, B,AM F.R.E.S., F.Z.S.

1872?1941.

[See plate 10, vol. VII, no. 11, March, 1941.}

William Monod Crawford, who died at his residence, Orissa, Marlborough Park SM Belfast, on 2nd April, J941, was one of

the most active of our Irish naturalists and his life was largely devoted to public service. He will be sadly missed by- his

colleagues in societies and committees, and mourned by many personal friends.

He belonged to a family that has taken a prominent place in the country. His father, Sir William Crawford, occupied a

position of eminence, not only as head of the.great York Street Flax Spinning Company, but because of his interest in the affairs of his church, in education, and in many philanthropic move

ments. The son who recently passed away seemed to have inherited much of his broad outlook and will to serve.

Crawford was horn in Paris on 31st October, 1872, and was educated there till he was 16 years of age. Afterwards he attended the Royal Belfast Academical Institution for two years; then passed to Queen's College, Belfast, from which he graduated

B.A. in the Boyal University of Ireland, in 1894; and after that he spent a year at St. John's College, Cambridge, before proceed ing to India in 1895 as a Civil Servant. He retired from the I.CS. in 1919, after n varied and interesting experience, in the course of which he found She greatest joy in the study of natural

history. He brought back with him to Belfast a wonderful collection of Indian butterflies and moths, all mounted with the

meticulous care he always exercised.

Readers of I.N.J, will be familiar with Crawford's work in connection with local entomology. From the first year of the

publication of the Journal he was a constant contributor to its

pages. He also acted as Convener of its Publication Committee and Honorary Secretary of the Committee and had done so since its inception in 1925. His contributions were largely with reference to lepidoptera, but he was also interested in the

hemiptera, and in more recent years much of his time was given to the study of the aquatic eoleoptera. He published many newT records of distribution of species, and also devoted attention to such subjects as hibernation and migration. He took particular pleasure in compiling statistics as to the months in which various

species had been collected. His records were all made with meticulous care, and his labelling of specimens was done in such

a way as to give the maximum of information as to time, place, and verification. It was an inspiration for a young naturalist to spend an hour under his guidance, aiid he was always eager to help a beginner.

Apart from entomology Crawford's other interests were many. Philatelv was one and he possessed a fine set of stamps of the

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Sept., 1941.] The Ibish Naturalists' Journal. 337

British Empire, while he was also devoted to archaeology and to gardening. He was keenly interested in the School for the

Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, in Belfast, and for many years acted as Honorary Secretary of the Committee of Management. Further, he was *an active member of the Executive Committee of the National Trust; of Convocation of Queen's University, and of the Board of the Royal Academical Institution. He was a past President of Belfast Naturalists'

Field Club, -and acted for many years as its Hon. Librarian. He was also Hon. Librarian of Belfast Natural History and

Philosophical Society, and when its library was transferred to the

Municipal Museum, he became Hon. Librarian there and devoted much time to the task of arranging the books, being instru mental in completing many of the gaps that existed among the

periodical literature. This brief record would be incomplete without some reference

to Crawford's work for his church. He was an elder in Windsor

Presbyterian Church, and he served on numerous Committees of the General Assembly. He rendered great service as Convener of the Church Committee on Statistics, and he devoted much time to the carrying out of its work.

He will without doubt be missed by many, and not least by those who worked with him for so many years in connexion with Irish Naturalists' Journal.

G. W.

80ME IRISH CHALCID FLIES.

By A. W. Stelfox, M.R.I.A.

The Chalcid Flies, or Chalcid Wasps, as they are known in

America, include some of our most brilliantly coloured insects, but

being seldonl more than an eighth or <a quarter of an inch in length they are inconspicuous and seldom seen except by collectors. Though often black, many are coated with mail of blue, green and all ishades

of-Ted, shot with gold. Moreover their wings are often beautifully decorated with a dark pattern. Some are wingless and many of them, as well as these wingless ones, attempt escape by jumping, flea-like, rarther than by flying. Popularly speaking they must be included amongst the so-called Ichneumon Fries? though they form in them

selves one of the super-families of Hymenoptera?Chalcidoidea?of equal standing with the Ichneumonoidea. Except for records in the

writings of Francis Walker and Alexander H. Halioay, practically nothing has been published concerning the species of this group found in Ireland, which like the true Ichneumon Flies are of the greatest economic interest since they are parasites of the larvae, etc., of other insects and so act as a check upon the latter.

They are so numerous, and so difficult it is to identify them, that as a rule I do not collect them, but occasionally I am tempted to take and mount a specimen either because of its beauty or strange appear ance or because of some interest attached to its habits or life-history.

The few scattered Irish records have never been brought together and no attempt at an

** Irish list" has as yet been made. I therefore

take the opportunity of recording nine species, of which the first six

(listed below in alphabetical order) have kindly been identified by Dr. C. Ferriere of the Imperial. Institute of Entomology,* London.

Except where otherwise stated, <the specimens were taken by myself. Eupelmus urozonus Dalm. Two females captured on a bored

stump on O'Etonoghue's Island, Caragh Lake, SK.. 6.7.1934.

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