John McBean was associated with the East Rand Proprietary Mines in Boksburg, Transvaal, and was a member of the Malacological Society of London from 1901. During the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) he sought refuge in KwaZulu-Natal. He collected land snails there and in the Transvaal during the first few years of the twentieth century. The species Trachycystis mcbeani (McBean's pinwheel), a minute land snail, was named after him by Major M. Connolly* in 1932.

In 1909 McBean was still a member of the Malacological Society of London, but was living in Bournemouth, England.

List of sources:
Barnard, K.H. Personal names in South African conchology. Cape Town: Conchological Society of Southern Africa, 1965.

Herbert, D. & Kilburn, D. Field guide to the land snails and slugs of eastern South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: Natal Museum, 2004.

Malacological Society of London: List of Members. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, March 1904, Vol. 6(1). Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofmal164190415mala/proceedingsofmal164190415mala_djvu.txt on 2018-7-2.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2020-04-23 17:30:14