Lionel de Nicéville

Charles Lionel Augustus de Nicéville (1852 in Bristol – 3 December 1901 in Calcutta from malaria) was a curator at the Indian Museum in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He studied the butterflies of the Indian subcontinent and wrote a three volume monograph on the butterflies of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma and Sri Lanka. He also studied the mantids of the Oriental region.

Biography Born in a noble Huguenot family, his father was a physician. He was educated at St. John's College at Hurstpierpoint near Brighton. Leaving England for India in 1870, de Nicéville became a clerk in a government office (Calcutta Small Cause Court) but from at least 1881, devoted all of his spare time to entomology. He worked with most 'Indian' entomologists of the day but especially with Henry John Elwes, Taylor, Wood–Mason, Martin and Marshall. At this time, he made several trips to Sikkim. In 1887 he made a trip to the Baltistan glaciers along with John Henry Leech.

He was a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London and a Fellow of the Entomological Society.

He married Jane Sarah Webb, a widow, at St James' Church Calcutta on 21 September 1881. Their only child, Nora De Niceville, was born in Calcutta on 25 August 1882.

Lionel died of malaria contracted while travelling in the Terai region.

Works Partial list: 1883 with G. F. L. Marshall. "Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon". Vol. 1. Repr. 1979, New Delhi, 327 pp. 1886. "The Butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon". Vol. 2. Repr. 1979, New Delhi, 332 pp. 1890. "The butterflies of India, Burmah and Ceylon". Vol. 3. Repr. 1979, New Delhi, 503 pp. 1892. "On new and little known Butterflies from the Indo-Malayan region", Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 7: 322-356. 1894 "On new and little-known butterflies from the Indo-Malayan region" J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal (II) 63 (1): 1–59, pls. 1–5 1898 "On new and little-known butterflies from the Indo-Malayan, Austro-Malayan and Australian Regions" Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 12 (1): 131–161, 4 pls. 1900 "On new and little-known Lepidoptera from the Oriental region". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 13, 157–176, 3 pl. (174).

Collection Part of de Nicéville's butterfly collection was given to the Asiatic Society, Calcutta in 1880. Other parts were given, in 1902 to the Indian Museum in Calcutta and to the Peter Redpath Museum in Montreal.