The Linnean NEWSLETTER AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON Volume 37 Number 1 April 2021 Thomas Watling: William Yarrell FLS: Linnaeus in England: From forger to natural A trusted Fellow, scientist & Tracing his journey history illustrator wise advisor AND MORE... Communicating nature since 1788 The Linnean Society of London Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BF UK Toynbee House, 92–94 Toynbee Road, Wimbledon SW20 8SL UK (by appointment only) +44 (0)20 7434 4479 www.linnean.org [email protected] @LinneanSociety President SECRETARIES COUNCIL Dr Sandra Knapp Scientific The Officers () Vice Presidents Vice Presidents Prof. Alan Hildrew Prof. Simon Hiscock Kevin Coutinho Prof. Anjali Goswami Dr Natasha de Vere Dr Olwen Grace Editorial Mathew Frith Prof. Simon Hiscock Prof. Beverley Glover Prof. Max Telford Prof. Mark Chase FRS Dr Charlotte Grezo Collections Prof. Paul Henderson CBE Treasurer Prof. Alistair Hetherington Edward Banks Dr John David Stephanie Holt Angus McCullough QC Dr Silvia Pressel Elaine Shaughnessy THE TEAM Executive Secretary Financial Controller & Conservator Dr Elizabeth Rollinson Membership Officer Janet Ashdown Priya Nithianandan Head of Collections Special Publications Manager Dr Isabelle Charmantier Buildings & Office Manager Leonie Berwick Librarian Helen Shaw Education & Public Engagement Will Beharrell Communications & Events Manager Joe Burton Archivist Manager Padma Ghosh Multimedia Content Producer c Ross Ziegelmeier Liz M Gow Room Hire & Membership Assistant Archivist Assistant Tatiana Franco BioMedia Meltdown Project Luke Thorne Manager Daryl Stenvoll-Wells Digital Assets Manager Archivist emerita Andrea Deneau Engagement Research & Gina Douglas Delivery Officer Zia Forrai Editor Publishing in The Linnean Gina Douglas The Linnean is published twice a year, in April and October. All [email protected] contributions are welcome, but please contact the Editor or see Production Editor the Guidelines for Contributors document on our website before Leonie Berwick writing and submitting articles (www.linnean.org/thelinnean). [email protected] Articles should be emailed to the Editor in MS Word format. Images should be sent as JPEGs or TIFFs at no less than 300dpi. Correct copyright information should accompany the images. The Linnean Steering Group Prof. Pieter Baas Cover image: Echidna, attributed to Thomas Watling, courtesy of the Library Dr Michael R Wilson and Archives, Natural History Museum, London Dr Mary Morris ISSN 0950-1096 Charity Reference No. 220509 The Linnean Newsletter and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London Editorial / Gina Douglas 1 Society News / Elizabeth Rollinson 2 Collections News / Isabelle Charmantier 4 Correspondence 7 A Tribute to Brian George Gardiner PPLS (1932–2021) 12 Contents Thomas Watling: An Early Natural History Painter / John Currey FLS 19 William Yarrell: A Linnean Society Fellow (from 1825–56) / Christine E. Jackson FLS 26 Linnaeus in England, Summer 1736 / E. Charles Nelson FLS 31 New Information Concerning Page Turners, Paper-knives, Paper Folders and Letter Openers / Ian Spellerberg FLS 35 In Memoriam / 2020 42 Book Reviews 45 Editorial his issue of The Linnean will differ from previous issues, in that the recent death of Professor Brian Gardiner PPLS, the publication’s founder and first Editor, will Ttake precedence. Past colleagues and friends have brought together a tribute to his life and work, helping us to remember the many facets of his personality and achievements. The past year has also been one in which we have all experienced unforeseen changes in the way we live, work and interact. The Society learnt to adapt quickly to different ways of providing services to our Fellows, within ever changing guidance. The building, library and collections may have been physically inaccessible for much of the year to all but a few, but our events, educational activities, catalogues, and the documentation of our collections has all continued, providing wider outreach and improved resources. Gina Douglas, Editor [email protected] 1 THE LINNEAN VOL 37(1) APRIL 2021 ith the roll-out of the UK’s vaccination programme, we hope we can look forward to some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel and a ‘new normal’ Wfor the Society—with plenty of new initiatives afoot. Responding to the ‘Planetary Emergency’ Inspirational leadership from Council member Stephanie Holt FLS has ensured that the ‘Linnean Future: Planetary Emergency Response Committee’ has got off to a flying start, with the formal launch of this initiative on 3 March. Dedicated educational webpages providing links to informative resources present the science behind the crisis. In addition, the Society will practise what we preach—focusing on sustainability and monitoring our carbon footprint, while we garner support, especially from our Society News members. Your responses to the membership survey are being analysed, and we aim to launch a new Customer Relations Management (CRM) system shortly, with functionality that will facilitate better interactions and communication. Recognising excellence and research sponsorship Council voted on the Society’s medals and awards for 2021, and presentations to the winners, and the winners from 2020, will be made at the virtual Anniversary Meeting in May. The Society granted three awards from its designated funds: the Appleyard Fund to Eve Hills MRes, presently a foster carer, towards a conservation scoping study on what leopards eat; the Anne Sleep Award to Dr Seyyed Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani (Damghan University, Iran) for his project on Darevskia lizards; and the Dennis Stanfield Memorial Fund to Dr Alejandra Pascual-Garrido (University of Oxford), to investigate the mechanical properties of plants used by wild chimpanzees as tools to exploit termite mounds in west Tanzania. The Attenborough Award 2020 (for outstanding fieldwork) Attenborough Award winner Paola áS ez of London © The Linnean Society E. Rollinson Gonzalez; ez was awarded to Paola Sáez Gonzalez á Gonzalez (pink jacket) and colleague study Telmatobius marmoratus frogs in the Andes (Universidad de Chile), for her project on Telmatobius marmoratus frogs in the Andes. Help us keep our historic home at Burlington House You will all have received a letter from the President earlier in the year explaining the parlous situation the Society is facing regarding the steeply increasing rent at Burlington Paola S © Award Attenborouegh 2 Society News House. We are grateful to all of you who have already contacted your MPs to encourage them to support our case, letting them know that the Society’s public benefit value is substantial, and any relocation will be both hugely costly and disruptive, detracting significantly from delivering on our charitable objectives. Reaching a global audience It’s great to see our live-streamed lectures reaching global audiences of up to 420, while the recordings of these lectures are also attracting much interest, covering topics like the evolution of passerine birds, desmid algae and cancer evolution. Catch up on our YouTube channel with Samanth Subramanian discussing J.B.S. Haldane’s life as a scientist, politician, intellectual and science communicator. Researchers from many disciplines came together for the day meeting ‘Linnaeus: Race & Sex’, to discuss the social and cultural context of contemporary debates on the history of the idea of ‘race’, decolonial approaches to natural history, and on sex and gender in science. ‘Our Local Nature’, ‘Nature Diaries’ & ‘Student Futures’ Our Linnean Learning team has initiated collaborations with Stemettes, for mentoring young women, and the National Literacy Trust, for a creative science writers project, while we have ongoing input into the new GCSE in Natural History. Our newly- established Youth Panel reviewed ‘Our Local Nature’ grants, with the first funding round completed (136 applicants, 11 funded). BioMedia Meltdown workshops are now all online, with the most recent innovation being the creation of a nature diary book, which is being well received by schools and home-schoolers alike. Our Student Futures online conference, in collaboration with the British Ecological Society, allowed undergraduate and postgraduate students from the natural sciences to network, encouraging open conversations about pathways into research. And it’s goodbye from the Executive Secretary With the Executive Secretary role having been made redundant, I have now left the Society. It’s been a privilege and a great pleasure looking after the Fellowship and leading such a fantastic team of staff—they are hugely committed and highly professional. Together with the new CEO, Dr Gail Cardew (to be introduced at the Anniversary Meeting and future issue of PuLSe), and our Trustees, the team will take the Society onwards and upwards, towards our vision of a world where nature is understood, valued and protected. Dr Elizabeth Rollinson, Executive Secretary 3 THE LINNEAN VOL 37(1) APRIL 2021 t was with a heavy heart that staff closed the Library and access to the Linnean Society collections again at the beginning of November. Five and a half months later, Iwe reopened on Wednesday 14 April, initially on the same reduced days and hours as last year. Full details can be found here: www.linnean.org/library. Collections News Staff, volunteers and trainees Digital Assets Manager Andrea Deneau completed a distance learning course on digital records management in December, and will now take on the responsibility of digital recordkeeping at the Society.