James Higman Keys entomology collection

J.H. Keys lived in Plymouth. He had a keen interest in natural history and in particular entomology, which is the scientific study of insects. During his life, he donated several specimens to Plymouth Museum, including a lizard from Costa Rica, a moth, a spider, land shells, numerous beetles and his father’s (IWN Keys) herbarium collection.

Coleoptera collection

The Keys Coleoptera (beetle) collection, donated as a bequest in 1941, is the most researched natural history collection in the museum. The collection contains over 26,000 British specimens and over 4,000 foreign specimens. There are numerous type specimens in the collection. A type specimen is the most important specimen a museum can hold; designated as the archetype to describe a new species, it always defines that species. Plymouth Museum also holds Keys own catalogue and field notebooks, which contain detailed information about all the specimens and localities where he collected.

Keys only donated one of his many specimens to another museum. The specimen, Spathorrhamphus corsicus, was donated during his life, in 1936, to the Natural History Museum, London (which was at that time the British Museum, Natural history). The specimen was collected in Corsica and donated with his collection field notes.

Microscope slides

A lesser-known collection made by Keys is a collection of approximately 500 microscope slides. This includes cross sections of plants, mites, psudoscorpions and beetle genitalia!

You can now browse the Keys Microscope Slide Collection online.

Glass plate negatives

Recently discovered among the spirit preserved marine fauna collection, was a box containing 41 glass plate negatives of maritime beetles. They were prepared by Keys and most probably used for his publications.

Darren Mann, Collections Manager from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, has been researching the collection for over five years. Darren said: "The Keys collection of Coleoptera is probably the most comprehensive collection of beetles from South West Britain, containing many of the rarest beetles of the region."

You can find out more information about James Higman Keys or return to the natural history collections  page for information on the other collections we hold.

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