1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Donovan, Edward

DONOVAN, EDWARD (1768–1837), English naturalist, was the author of many popular works on natural history and botany. In 1792 appeared the first volume of his Natural History of British Insects, which extended to sixteen volumes, and was completed in 1813. He also published Natural Histories of British Birds, in 10 vols. 8vo (1799–1819), of British Fishes, in 5 vols. (1802–1808), of British Shells, in 5 vols. (1800–1804), a series of illustrated works on The Insects of India, China, New Holland, &c., in 3 vols. 4to (1798–1805), and Excursions in South Wales and Monmouthshire (1805). To these works must be added his periodical entitled The Naturalist’s Repository, a monthly publication, of which three volumes were completed (1823–1825), and an Essay on the Minute Parts of Plants in general. Donovan was author of the articles on natural history in Rees’s Cyclopaedia. In 1833 he published a Memorial respecting my Publications in Natural History, in which he complains that he had been nearly ruined by his publishers. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society, and died in London on the 1st of February 1837.