Louis Fraser

Louis Fraser (1810 – 1866) was a British zoologist and collector. In his early years, Fraser was curator of the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. and married Mary Ann Harrison on 17 February 1844. A son Oscar L. Fraser worked as an assistant in the Indian Museum at Calcutta around 1888. He worked for fourteen years at the museum of the Zoological Society of London. He worked with the anatomist Richard Owen on studies of the emu and rhea. He participated in the Niger expedition of 1841 as the African Civilization Society's scientist, with Allen and Thomson. He stayed on in Fernando Po and collected. Upon his return he became in charge of Lord Derby's collection at Knowsley Hall.

Fraser wrote a Catalogue of the Knowsley Collections (1850) and described several new species including the Derbyan parakeet Psittacula derbiana named after his employer. A number of species and subspecies have been named in his honour, including Fraser's anole (Anolis fraseri), Fraser's ground snake (Liophis epinephelus fraseri), a centipede snake (Tantilla fraseri, a synonym of Tantilla melanocephala), Fraser's eagle-owl (Bubo poensis), Fraser's warbler (Myiothlypis fraseri), and Fraser's musk shrew (Crocidura poensis). Died at age 56.