KIRBY, William (1759-1850), entomologist, was born at Witnesham in Suffolk, September 19, 1759. From the village school of Witnesham he passed to Ipswich grammar school, and thence to Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1781, not becoming M.A till 1815. Taking orders in 1782, he spent his entire life in the peaceful seclusion of an English country parsonage, till 1796 as curate, afterwards as rector, of Barham in Suffolk. Although Kirby was once and again induced to use his pen against the spirit of free-thinking then reacting from France upon England, he had little taste for controversy. His favourite study was natural history; and eventually entomology engrossed all his leisure. His first work of importance was his Monographia Aρum Angliae (2 vols. 8vo, 1802), which as the first scientific treatise on its subject brought him into notice with the leading entomologists of his own and foreign countries. Latreille, Fabricius, Illiger, and Walckenaer were among his correspondents; and his opinion and advice were sought by many less illustrious. The practical result of a friendship formed in 1805 with Mr Spence, a scientific gentleman of Hull, was the jointly written Introduction to Entomology (4 vols. 8vo, 1815-26, 7th ed. 1856), one of the most popular books of science that have ever appeared, and still highly valuable. In 1830 Kirby was chosen to write one of the Bridgewater Treatises, his subject being The History, Habits, and Instincts of Animals. This, published in 2 vols, in 1835, undeniably fell short of his earlier works in point of scientific value. On July 4,1850, William Kirby died, after a long life of piety, benevolence, and diligence. He was an original member of the Linnean Society; and his name was on the rolls of all the chief scientific ...