Theodore Cantor

Theodore Edward Cantor (Danish: Theodor Edvard) (1809–1860) was a Danish physician, zoologist and botanist.^[1] He described several new species of reptiles and amphibians, and six species have been named in his honor.

Theodore Edward Cantor
Born	1809 Copenhagen
Died	1860 (age 58/59) India
Occupation(s)	physician zoologist botanist
Employer	British East India Company

Cantor was born to a Danish Jewish family;^[2] his mother was a sister of Nathaniel Wallich. Cantor worked for the British East India Company, and made natural history collections in Penang and Malacca.^[3]

Career

Cantor was the first Western scientist to describe the Siamese fighting fish.^[4][5][6][7] In the scientific field of herpetology he described many new species of reptiles and amphibians.^[8] Species first described by Cantor include Bungarus bungaroides (1839),^[9] Bungarus lividus (1839),^[10] Channa argus (1842),^[11] Elaphe rufodorsata (1842),^[12] Euprepiophis mandarinus (1842),^[13] Hippocampus comes (1850),^[14] Lycodon effraenis (1847),^[15] Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (1842),^[16] Naja atra (1842),^[17] Oligodon albocinctus (1839),^[18] Oligodon cyclurus (1839),^[19] Ophiophagus hannah (1836),^[20] Oreocryptophis porphyracea (1839),^[21] Pareas monticola (1839),^[22] Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (1839),^[23] Ptyas dhumnades (1842),^[24] and Trimeresurus erythrurus (1839).^[25]

The snake genus Cantoria with the type species Cantoria violacea (Cantor's water snake) is named in Cantor's honour,^[26] as are Acanthodactylus cantoris (Indian fringe-fingered lizard), Elaphe cantoris (eastern trinket snake), Hydrophis cantoris (Cantor's small-headed sea snake), Pelochelys cantorii (Cantor's giant softshell turtle), and Trimeresurus cantori (Cantor's pit viper).^[27]

Publications

• Notes respecting some Indian fishes (1839)
• — (1841). Conspectus of Collections Made by Dr. Cantor, Assistant Surgeon, During His Employment with H.M. 26th Regt. on Expedition to China, 1840.
• — (1842). "General Features of Chusan, with Remarks on the Fauna and Flora of That Island". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 9: 481. doi:10.1080/03745484209445368.
• — (1846). On a Species of Semnopithecus from the Peninsula of Malacca. R. and J.E. Taylor.
• — (1842). Zoology of Chusan.
• — (1846). Catalogue of Mammalia inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and Islands, etc. (Extracted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society.). Bishop's College Press.
• — (1981). Catalogue of Reptiles: Inhabiting the Asian Continent. Cosmo Publications. ISBN 978-81-7020-107-6.
• — (1849). Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Baptist Mission Press.

Taxa described by him

• See Category:Taxa named by Theodore Edward Cantor

Cantor Lectures

A bequest made by Cantor to the Society of Arts in London was applied to the founding of a lecture series on industrial applications of science. It began with talks in 1863, and became known as the Cantor Lectures.^[28]