George Meyer-Darcis

Georges Meyer-Darcis, full name Georg Gottlieb August Meyer-Darcis (or Meyer Darcis) (12 September 1860 in Wohlen – 3 January 1913 in Florence) was a Swiss botanist and entomologist.

Georges Meyer-Darcis was the son of a world-famous straw goods manufacturer (Sogin & Meyer). From 1875 to 1878 he was educated in the Technical Department of the cantonal school in Aarau. Encouraged by Professor Mühlberg, he collected rare plants and insects with his friend Samuel Döbeli. After a commercial apprenticeship in Geneva, he managed the straw goods factory. In Geneva, he collected insects in his spare time, encouraged by the curator of the Entomological collections of the University of Geneva Dr. Emil Frey-Gessner (1826–1917).

In addition to his own collections, he purchased world Coleoptera and plant collections, including one by Johann Luzi Krättli (1812–1903), which he then presented to the Botanical Museum of the University of Zurich. Some parts of his beetle collection were sold to the French entomologist René Oberthür and are now preserved in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.