John O. Westwood

John O. Westwood
Portrait of Westwood sitting at a writing table
Born	22 December 1805 Sheffield, England
Died	2 January 1893 (aged 87)
Nationality	English
Known for	entomology
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1855)

John Obadiah Westwood (22 December 1805 – 2 January 1893) was an English entomologist and archaeologist also noted for his artistic talents.

Born in Sheffield, he studied to be a lawyer but abandoned that for his scientific interests.

He became a curator and later professor at Oxford University, having been nominated by his friend and patron the Reverend Frederick William Hope, whose donation was the basis of the Hope Collection at Oxford. He was also a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.^[1]

Westwood was a Fellow of the Linnean Society and president of the Entomological Society of London (1852–1853).

Among the prominent writers and naturalists he associated with was James Rennie, whom he assisted in the editing of Gilbert White's The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne in 1833.

On 30 December 1892, not long after returning home from a convention in London, Westwood had suddenly collapsed of a cerebral haemorrhage which left him hospitalised. He slipped into a coma just one day later and died on 2 January 1893. His funeral took place on 6 January 1893 and was interred in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford.

Works

Partial list

General

• Class Insecta.in Griffith, E. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier. Whittaker, London. 796 pp (1832).
• An introduction to the modern classification of insects Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London. (−1839)
• Synopsis of the genera of British Insects. Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London. 158 pp. (1840) The full text
• The Cabinet of Oriental Entomology (1848) The full text
• Arcana Entomologica, or illustrations of new, rare, and interesting exotic insects. Volumes 1 & 2. [Volume 1 published in parts, 1841-1843. Volume 2 published in parts, 1843-1845].
• Thesaurus Entomologicus Oxoniensis: or illustrations of new, rare and interesting insects, for the most part coloured, in the collections presented to the University of Oxford by the Rev. F.W. Hope. London: McMillan & Co., i–xxiv, 205 pp., 40 pls (1873-1874) [Published in 4 parts: Part I, pp. 1-56 in 1873; parts II-IV in 1874].

Hymenoptera

• Description of several British forms amongst the parasitic hymenopterous insects. London & Edinburgh Philos. Mag. J. Sci. 1: 127–129 (1832).
• Further notices of the British parasitic hymenopterous insects; together with the "Transactions of a fly with a long tail," observed by Mr. E. W. Lewis; and additional observations. Magazine of Natural History 6: 414–421. (1833).
• Descriptions of several new British forms amongst the parasitic hymenopterous insects. London & Edinburgh Philos. Mag. J. Sci. 2: 443–445 (1833). The full text
• Descriptions of several new British forms amongst the parasitic hymenopterous insects. London & Edinburgh Philos. Mag. J. Sci. 3: 342–344 1833..
• "...Hymenopterous Insects, which Mr Westwood regarded as new to science." Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 3: 68–72. (1835) The full text
• Characters of new genera and species of hymenopterous insects.. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 3: 51–72 (1835). The full text
• Observations on the genus Typhlopone, with descriptions of several exotic species of ants. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6: 81–89 (1840) The full text.
• On the Evaniidae and some allied genera of hymenopterous insects. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (1)7: 535–538 (1841).
• Monograph of the hymenopterous group, Dorylides. Arcana Entomologica 1(5): 73–80 (1842) The full text.
• On Evania and some allied genera of hymenopterous insects. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 3(4): 237–278 (1843).
• Description of a new species of the hymenopterous genus Aenictus, belonging to the Dorylidae. Journal of Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London 1840–1846: 85. (1843). The full text.
• Description of a new dorylideous insect from South Africa, belonging to the genus Aenictus. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 4: 237–238 (1847).
• Description of the "Driver" ants, described in the preceding article. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 5: 16–18 (1847).
• Descriptions of some new species of exotic Hymenoptera belonging to Evania and the allied genera, being a supplement to a memoir on those insects published in the third volume of the Transactions of the Entomological Society. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London (2)1: 213–234. (1851).
• Descriptions of some new species of short-tongued bees belonging to the genus Nomia. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1875: 207–222. (1875).
• Contributions to fossil entomology. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 10: 378–396 1854. The full text

Lepidoptera

• With Henry Noel Humphreys British Moths and Their Transformations. London: William Smith, 1843–1845. 2 Volumes.

Mantodea

• Revisio Insectorum Familiae Mantidarum, speciebus novis aut minus cognitis descriptis et delineatis. – Revisio Mantidarum. Gurney & Jackson, London. 55pp. & 14 plates. (1889).

Phasmida

• Insectorum Arachnoidumque Decades duo. Zoological Journal, 5(10): 440-453, pl. 22. (1834).
• Catalogue of the Orthopterous Insects in the Collection of British Museum. Part I: Phasmidae. British Museum, London. (1859).
• Heteropteryx hopei, Westw. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 2(3): 16-17.(1864).

References

1. Foote, Yolanda (2004). "Westwood, John Obadiah (1805–1893)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 5 February 2009.

External links

• John Obadiah Westwood
• Page on John Obadiah Westwood's grave in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford, with biography
• Manuscripts at the Natural History Museum
• Arcana entomologica, 1845 at Oxford Digital Library: Volume One; Volume Two.
• Smithsonian Archives
• An introduction to the modern classification of insects : founded on the natural habits and corresponding organisation of the different families (1839)
• J. O. Westwood's illustrated works in the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
•  "Westwood, John Obadiah". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
• OUM Description of Westwood's collection