Frederick Vincent Theobald, British entomologist, was
educated in private schools and continued his studies at St John's College,
University of Cambridge, where he qualified as Master of Arts (MA). He joined
the staff of the South-Eastern Agricultural College in Wye, Kent, in 1894 and
by 1911 was its vice-principal. From 1900 to 1903 he was head of the Economic
Zoology Section of the British Museum (Natural History). Later he became
advisory entomologist to the south-eastern province of England, and professor
of agricultural zoology in the University of London.
Theobald was an authority on the mosquitoes of the world and
wrote A monograph of the Culicidae or
mosquitoes (1901-1910, 5 vols). Other noteworthy publications by him were An account of British flies (Diptera)
(1892), The insect and other allied pests
of orchard, bush and hothouse fruits and their prevention and treatment (1909),
A textbook of agricultural zoology
(1899), and many papers on insect pests and collections of mosquitoes from all
over the world. He was a Fellow of the Entomological Society, a Fellow of the
Society of Tropical Medicine and a member of several European societies, served
on the management committee of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, was an
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and a recipient of its gold
medal, and was honoured as an Officer of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the
Osmanieh, and Grand Medalliste of the Society Nationale d'Acclimatation de
France.
Theobald described 'A new stegomyia from the Transvaal' in The Entomologist (1905). Some years
later he reported on a collection of mosquitoes made at Pretoria and Onderstepoort
and sent to him by Dr Arnold Theiler*, plus a large collection previously
received from C.B. Simpson*, government entomologist of the Transvaal, and specimens
from Dr Andrew Copland of Leydsdorp. The study was undertaken to find out which
mosquitoes feed on horses and hence may transmit horse-sickness (the cause of
which was as yet unknown). His report, which included descriptions of new
species, comprised a complete list of all Culicidae so far recorded in the
Transvaal. Entitled 'The Culicidae of the Transvaal', it was published in the First Report of the Director of Veterinary
Research (1911, pp. 232-272). It was followed by his 'Second report on the
mosquitoes of the Transvaal' in the Second
Report of the Director of Veterinary Research (1912, pp. 315-342).
