William Kirby (entomologist) - Major Publications

Major Publications

Kirby produced his first major work, the Monographia Apum Angliae (Monograph on the Bees of England), in 1802. His purpose was both scientific and religious:

‘The author of Scripture is also the author of Nature: and this visible world, by types indeed, and by symbols, declares the same truths as the Bible does by words. To make the naturalist a religious man – to turn his attention to the glory of God, that he may declare his works, and in the study of his creatures may see the loving-kindness of the Lord – may this in some measure be the fruit of my work…’ (Correspondence, 1800)

This, the first scientific treatise on English bees, brought him to the notice of leading entomologists in Britain and abroad. Extensive correspondence followed with scientists including Alexander MacLeay, Walkenaer, Johan Christian Fabricius and Adam Afzelius.

Kirby began planning his Introduction to Entomology, a celebrated title, in 1808. This was the practical result of a friendship formed in 1805 with William Spence, of Hull, and appeared in four volumes between 1815 and 1826. Much of the work fell to Kirby owing to Spence's ill health. The book was illustrated by John Curtis. It reached its seventh edition in 1856. In 1830 he was invited to write one of the Bridgewater Treatises, his subject being The History, Habits, and Instincts of Animals (2 vols., 1835).

With Edward Sabine and J.E. Gray, Kirby prepared the natural history supplement for Captain Parry's 1819–1820 expedition to seek the North-West Passage: his work formed the insect section of the Account of the Animals seen by the late Northern Expedition while within the Arctic Circle 1821. His friend W.J. Hooker established his contact with Dr Richardson to involve him in the publication of findings from Sir John Franklin's 1st and 2nd expeditions, the insect section in the Fauna Boreali-Americana in 1837.