Richard Parnell FRSE MWS (4 March 1814–28 October 1882) was a British physician as well as an amateur zoologist, ichthyologist and agrostologist. He gives his name to Parnell's moustached bat. The grass Parnelli is also named after him.[1]
He was born at Bramford Speke in Devon in 1810 the son of John Ratcliffe Parnell (1774-1826).[2] He went to the University of Edinburgh in 1834 to study medicine. He won Professor Robert Graham's gold medal for practical botany and Professor John Lizars' silver medal for anatomy. On 8 February 1836 he was one of the founding members of the Edinburgh Botanical Society. He finished his medical training with postgraduate study in London and Paris.[3]
In 1837 (aged 27) he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, his proposer being Sir William Jardine.[4]
From April 1839 well into 1840 he collected specimens in Jamaica and the West Indies, taking extensive notes and making many illustrations. He also made a tour of the museum collections of the United States.[5]
He returned to Edinburgh in the 1850s living in the Leith area at 7 James Place.[6] He was married to a daughter of James Curle of Evelaw.[3] He died at home, 17 Merchiston Avenue[7] in west Edinburgh on 28 October 1882.
His collection of fish is held by the National Museum of Scotland.[8]