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Catharine Johnston

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Botanical illustration of Hieracium murorum and Hieracium sylvaticum in Plate II by Catharine Johnston published in The Botany of the Eastern Borders.[1]

Catharine Johnston, née Charles, (1700s–1800s) was an English botanical illustrator who had a species of marine animal named in her honour.

Life and work

Johnston was the daughter of William Claudius Charles, a surgeon who had worked in the West Indies.[2] On 23 November 1819 she married Dr George Johnston,[3] a famous naturalist, and moved to Berwick-on-Tweed where the couple resided permanently.[4]

Johnston took an active interest in the study of natural history.[4] She assisted her husband in his natural history investigations and illustrated his publications with scientific drawings.[4] She signed her works C. Johnston.[5] On 21 December 1831 she was made an "Extraordinary member" of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.[6] Her drawings assisted other notable scientists to further their research.[7]

Johnstonella catharina from A naturalist's rambles on the Devonshire coast by P H Gosse London:John Van Voorst, 1853.[8]

In 1853 Philip Henry Gosse named the marine species Tomopteris (Johnstonella) catharina in her honor stating:

The crystalline Johnstonella: I have pleasure of announcing a new animal of much elegance, which I believe to be of a hitherto unrecognised form. I shall describe it under the appellation of Johnstonella Catharina. (Plate XXV). ... I venture respectfully to appropriate to this marine animal, the surname and christian name of Mrs. Catharine Johnston, as a personal tribute of gratitude for the great aid which I have derived from her engravings in the study of zoophytology.[7]

References

  1. ^ http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/12043
  2. ^ "Northumberland". The New Monthly Magazine. 12: 122. 1 January 1820. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Marriages". Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. 6: 359. December 1819. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Platts, Elizabeth (1994). "In Celebration of the Ray Society Established 1844, and its founder George Johnston (1797 - 1855)" (PDF). The Ray Society Publication (163): 4. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Johnston C." Database of Scientific Illustrators. University of Stuttgart. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Extraordinary Members". History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. 1: 2. 1834. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  7. ^ a b Gosse, Philip Henry (1853). A naturalist's rambles on the Devonshire coast. London: John Van Voorst. pp. 356–357. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  8. ^ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/item/93094
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