William Thomas Calman, 1871 - 1952

In 1930 Dr Caiman ended an address by quoting that grand old entomologist, David Sharp, who, in reply to a criticism that the days of systematic zoology were numbered, said that although he had seen many changing fashions in zoology, the one branch that never failed to attract was the systematic one. ‘There will always be systematic zoologists.’ Yes, there always will be—but not of the stature of Caiman. He was born at the right time, when the impetus given to phylogenetic research by the publication of The origin of species was reaching its maximum, at a time such that at the height of his career it was still possible for a man to be a great authority on one whole major group of animals; still possible, but only just. Caiman was one of the last of such great authorities, and it is certain that we shall never see the like again. With the vastness of modern research into classification of animals and even more so with the enormous expansion of the literature of the subject, it is now only possible for a man to be an authority on some small subdivision of the animal kingdom. That is why we who follow him are so mindful of the thanks we owe Caiman for the monument of his scholarship.