Louis Péringuey

Who was Louis Péringuey?

Louis Albert Péringuey MSc was a South African entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera and prehistory.

Péringuey was a collector for museums in Senegal, Gambia and Madagascar for three years, before emigrating in 1879 to Cape Town in South Africa where he taught French at the South African College and the Diocesan College. He worked as a volunteer on Coleoptera at the South African Museum in 1882, and two years later became a member of the permanent staff. Shortly after he also took up an appointment as inspector-general of vineyards.

At the age of 37 he married Bertha Marcellis, 3 years later in 1895 being put in charge of the Invertebrate Collection, and in 1896 becoming assistant director of the Museum. When the post of Director fell vacant in 1906 following Sclater's resignation, the Board of Trustees had no hesitation in appointing Péringuey as director. In the same year he started delivering lectures in forest entomology at the S.A. College, and was awarded a doctorate in Natural Sciences by the University of the Cape of Good Hope. Despite financial stringencies, the Museum engaged in an active program of collecting, research and publication. A dearth of transport meant that collectors often had to travel by train, donkey-cart and ox-wagon. He made important contributions in the field of physical anthropology, and produced a set of plaster casts of the San to record their physical appearance.