IhilL Br. Mils. Nul. Hist-(Hist, Ser) 18(1): 25-113 lssueiJ31 May IWO
A memoir and bibliography of
Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas,
F.R.S. ,Xgi2»o ^\7U
J. E. HILL_,
Department of Zoology . British Museum (Natural Historv). Cromwell
Road. London SW75BD
CONTENTS
Biography 25
Bibliography 35
Index to names proposed by Oldfield Thomas 85
Acknowledgements Ill
Appendix I Unofficial workers 112
Appendix 2 Mammals named after Oldfield Thomas 112
References 113
BIOGRAPHY
Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas served the Trustees of the British Museum and
subsequently of the British Museum (Natural History) from 1H76 until his retirement in
1923, continuing to work at the Museum almost until his death in 1929. Joining the staff
of the Department of Zoology in 1878 as the Assistant in charge of mammals, he devoted
the following fifty one years to the development and increase of the mammal collections,
to a voluminous correspondence, and especially to a prodigious output of papers and
writings that without doubt establishes him as the most prolific of mammalogists in
variety and number of publications, and in numbers of newly described taxa. His
contribution to the then emergent science of modern mammalogy is so great that few
taxonomic or systematic studies of mammals written since his era can fail to include at
least one name that he proposed, and modern faunal studies, revisions and monographs
almost invariably include several and sometimes many references to his writings.
Despite this prodigality, there exists no published bibliography to document his
achievements, and, unlike the present age when no doubt his contemporaries and peers
might be invited to produce a commemorative volume or Festschrift, the end of his career
was marked only by relatively brief obituary notices (Hinton, 1929; Pocock, 1930). While
it might be said that the mammalian collection of the British Museum (Natural History)
is in itself a memorial to Oldfield Thomas', who did so much to create and shape it, at a
distance of some sixty years from his death it seems opportune to review the contribution
Always known among his family as Oldfield (his mother's maiden name), he invariably styled himself Oldheld
Thomas, ignoring his other given names. His full name or his full initials are only rarely cited, and then chiefly
by the pedantic.
BioStor
