Reginald Innes Pocock | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1863-03-04)4 March 1863 |
| Died | 9 August 1947(1947-08-09) (aged 84) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology |
| Institutions | Natural History Museum, London,London Zoo |
Reginald Innes Pocock,F.R.S.[1] (4 March 1863 – 9 August 1947) was a Britishzoologist.[2]
Pocock was born inClifton, Bristol, the fourth son of Rev.Nicholas Pocock and Edith Prichard. He began showing interest in natural history atSt. Edward's School,Oxford. He received tutoring in zoology fromSir Edward Poulton, and was allowed to explore comparative anatomy at theOxford Museum. He studiedbiology andgeology atUniversity College, Bristol, underConwy Lloyd Morgan andWilliam Johnson Sollas. In 1885, he became an assistant at theNatural History Museum, and worked in the section ofentomology for a year. He was put in charge of the collections ofArachnida andMyriapoda. He was also given the task of arranging the British bird collections, in the course of which he developed a lasting interest in ornithology. The 200 papers he published in his 18 years at the museum soon brought him recognition as an authority on Arachnida and Myriapoda; he described between 300 and 400 species ofmillipedes alone,[3] and also described thescorpion genusBrachistosternus.[4] In 1929, he proposed the familyNandiniidae, with the genusNandinia as its sole member. He argued that it differs from theAeluroidea by the structure and shape of its ear canal andmastoid part of the temporal bone.[5]
In 1904, he left to become superintendent of theLondon Zoo, remaining so until his retirement in 1923. He then worked, as a voluntary researcher, in the British Museum, in the mammals department.
He described theleopon in a 1912 letter toThe Field, based on examination of a skin sent to him byW. S. Millard, the secretary of theBombay Natural History Society.
His brotherEdward Innes Pocock played international rugby for Scotland and was part of Cecil Rhodes'Pioneer Column. His great grandfather was marine artist CaptainNicholas Pocock.
