Jane Catharine Tost

Jane Catharine Tost (1817-1889) was an Australian taxidermist.

Tost and her siblings learned taxidermy from their parents, John and Catherine Ward. John Ward was a bird breeder and naturalist. Tost was employed at British Museum in the 1840s and 1850s before emigrating to Australia.

She was employed stuffing and mounting specimens for the Royal Society of Tasmania at the Hobart Town Museum in 1856-60, and had the same position at the Australian Museum in Sydney in 1864-69. This position was unusual for her gender and she was a pioneer as such. From 1872 onward, she managed the Tost & Coates Berlin Wool Depot and Taxidermists in Sydney with her daughter Ada Jane Rohu (1848-1928), and from 1860, mother and daughter participated in international exhibitions and won many prizes.