Brian Hocking (22 September 1914 – 23 May 1974) was a Canadian entomologist known for his work in medical entomology on blood-sucking flies, particularly black-flies and mosquitoes. He was also a specialist on insect host detection and flight. He was also the author of several popular books dealing with biology and entomology.

Biography

Hocking was born in London, and after a B.Sc. from the Imperial College, he worked for some time as an entomologist in the British Indian Army posted in Lucknow during World War II.[1] He joined the University of Alberta in 1946, completing his masters and a Ph.D. (1953) from the Imperial College with a thesis on The intrinsic range and speed of the flight of insects before becoming a faculty member, a position he kept for the rest of his life. He was a keen educator, and made numerous TV and radio programs, apart from helping develop the curriculum of Edmonton schools. He received a Gold Medal of the Entomological Society of Canada in 1973.[2][3] In a review he wrote that most of the literature on mosquitoes were on Aedes and Culex and that these were unrepresentative of the mosquitoes.[4] He also worked on flight and its efficiency in insects.[5] Hocking also made studies on insects and their associations with the African thorn acacias.[6][7] He founded a newsletter called Quaestiones Entomologicae. He worked on entomology even during his last days as a cancer patient.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Hocking, Brian (1945). "Entomology and War". Indian Journal of Entomology. 7 (1&2): 1–3.
  2. ↑ Riegert, P.W., ed. (1989). Entomologists of Alberta (PDF). Entomological Society of Canada. p. 32.
  3. 1 2 Edman, J.D. (1989). "Are mosquitoes gourmet or gourmand?" (PDF). Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. 5 (4): 487–499. PMID 2575657.
  4. ↑ Hocking, Brian (1971). "Blood-Sucking Behavior of Terrestrial Arthropods". Annual Review of Entomology. 16: 1–28. doi:10.1146/annurev.en.16.010171.000245. PMID 4928343.
  5. ↑ Hocking, Brian (1957). "Aspects of Insect Flight". The Scientific Monthly. 85 (5): 237–244. Bibcode:1957SciMo..85..237H. JSTOR 21740.
  6. ↑ Hocking, Brian (1970). "Insect associations with the swollen thorn acacias". Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 122 (7): 211–255. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1970.tb00532.x.
  7. ↑ Capinera, J.L., ed. (2008). Encyclopedia of Entomology (2 ed.). Springer. p. 1830.
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