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Francis Trevelyan Buckland

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Francis "Frank" Trevelyan Buckland (17 December 1826 – 19 December 1880), was an English surgeon, zoologist, author, naturalist, and Britain's Inspector of Fisheries from February 1867 until his death. He was elected in 1854 to the Athenaeum Club. In Frank Buckland's honour, Sir Arthur Thomson established in 1952 the Buckland Club.

Quotes

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  • The green tree-frogs are used to this day in Germany as barometers; they are placed in tall bottles, with little wooden ladders. The steps of the ladder mark as it were the frogs always go up towards the top in fine weather, and lower down at the approach of bad weather. I have often seen the Germans consult their frogs when starting on a pic-nic expedition. Leeches, too, make good barometers. I have two which generally will indicate what sort of weather is coming in the next twenty-four hours.
  • At all times the faculty which is most useful is that of quick and accurate observations of truths both small and great.
    Inanimate objects, though voiceless, are, in my experience, most valuable witnesses to truths both current and past.
    • "Preface". Log-book of a Fisherman and Zoologist. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd. 1883. pp. ix–xii.  (339 pages; quote from p. ix)

Natural History of British Fishes (1881)

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  • The Father-Lasher, Sting-Fish, or Long-Spined Cottus, is a very common fish among the rocks upon the British coast, and is frequently found left in fishing weirs when the tide goes down. It is often caught in shrimp nets, for its principal food consists of shrimps; its head and cheeks are armed with spines. The Folkestone fishermen call it the bull-rout. When taken out of the water, it always distends its gils as wide as it possibly can; the spines on the gills are formidable weapons. A man who was fishing with a shrimp-net caught a father-lasher, and without thinking, tried to bite its head off; the fish gave a sudden kick and slipped down his throat; ti then expanded its gills, the spines stuck in the man's throat, and he was shortly suffocated.
  • The carp is, most probably, the most widely distributed fish of the British species. In former times he was of great value as food, and hardly the ruins of a monastery in existence remain where the remains of the old carp pond, or stews, cannot be easily made out. In the days of the monks there were no railways, deep-sea trawling was not invented, and I doubt much whether mackerel drift-nets had come into use; even if they had, the transport of fish from the sea-coast would not have done for the monks, as fish could not arrive in an edible condition by means of pack-horses. That the monks were in the habit of eating the salted herring was very probable. Necessitas ingenii inventor. The monks, therefore, established carp ponds, where they could get a fish at any moment, either for a feast or a fast day. No doubt the monks had some excellent receipts for cooking carp. They should never be cooked when first taken out of a pond, but be placed in a box in running water, if possible; they will then get rid somewhat of their muddy flavour. The muddy flavour is probably produced from the food of the carp, which consists of young shoots of water-plants, insects, and worms which live in the pond.

Quotes about Frank Buckland

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  • Through life he pursued visible facts, not abstract ideas. For facts, especially of natural history, he had from childhood a most tenacious memory. At four years of age he began collecting specimens of natural history, and at seven he commenced his journal.
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