Parnell, Richard, 1810-1882.

Richard Parnell was a physician.

In 1839-1840, the ichthyologist Richard Parnell left London for a collecting expedition to Jamaica and a tour of museum collections in the United States. An authority on both fishes and grasses, Parnell published two noted works as a young man, his Prize Essay on the Natural and Economical History of the Fishes Marine, Fluviatile, and Lacustrine, of the River District of the Firth of Forth (Edinburgh: Neill and Co., 1838) and The Grasses of Britain (Edinburgh: Neill and Co., 1838). He appears, however, to have abandoned publication in 1845, although he continued collecting for many years.

Parnell's collections of fishes are now housed in the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh and the British Museum of Natural History in London, while his herbaria are scattered in a number of museums. Parnell died in 1882.