Jöns (Johan or Johann in South Africa) Persson, surveyor, prospector and insect collector, came to the South African Republic (Transvaal) from Sweden in 1867 and worked as a diamond prospector and surveyor. From 1869 to 1871 he collected many insects, most of them in the neighbourhood of Christiana, though many were also from Potchefstroom and the Waterberg, and a few from Pretoria. The main part of the collection consisted of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, but there were also some specimens belonging to other orders. He departed for Sweden late in 1872, but soon returned to the Transvaal and in February 1873 applied for an appointment as government land surveyor.
During 1873 his collection was presented to the Malme Museum. As the specimens were delivered to the museum by his brother Nils, the latter's name appeared in the museum's register and later he was wrongly assumed to be the collector. H.D.J. Wallengren worked on the collection and published a report on the Lepidoptera, Neuroptera and Hemiptera in Insecta Transvaaliensia in 1875, and a first report on the Coleoptera in 1881. Many species were described as new. Wallengren too assumed that Nils Persson had been the collector. The Lepidoptera remained in the Malme Museum, but the rest of the collection was transferred to the Entomological Museum of the Zoological Institute in Lund.
By 1877 Persson was a surveyor residing at Potchefstroom, where he married Susan Chick in 1880. In 1886, following the discovery of gold at Klerksdorp, he surveyed a new town and town lands there, but died the next year.
