“IN ORDER TO STUDY CONCHOLOGY”: ANDREW GARRETT (1823–1887) AND HIS 1859 EXPEDITION TO THE KINGSMILL ISLANDS (KIRIBATI)

Abstract

Andrew Garrett, a self-taught naturalist and artist best known for his work as a conchologist and ichthyologist, spent his entire adult life documenting the flora and fauna of the Pacific Islands. Although he focused primarily on molluscs and fishes, he collected and described many other organisms, both marine and terrestrial. He also made hundreds of watercolor drawings, primarily of fishes but also molluscs and other marine invertebrates, most of which have never been published. Although he produced a number of publications on his own, his greatest legacy lies in documenting the rich faunas of these islands, which have since suffered high rates of extinction, and in making vast amounts of zoological specimens available to others who later published on his material, describing countless numbers of new species.