E. B. Poulton

Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton
Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton Photograph by James Lafayette
Born	(1856-01-27)27 January 1856
Died	20 November 1943(1943-11-20) (aged 87)
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Jesus College, Oxford
Known for	Aposematism, frequency-dependent selection, camouflage
Awards	Linnean Medal (1922) Hope Professor of Zoology
Scientific career
Fields	Evolutionary biology
Institutions	University of Oxford
Influences	Charles Darwin, August Weismann, Alfred Russel Wallace

Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRSHFRSE (27 January 1856 – 20 November 1943) was a British evolutionary biologist who was a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its importance. He invented the term sympatric for evolution of species in the same place, and in his book The Colours of Animals (1890) was the first to recognise frequency-dependent selection.

Poulton is also remembered for his pioneering work on animal coloration. He is credited with inventing the term aposematism for warning coloration, as well as for his experiments on 'protective coloration' (camouflage).

Poulton became Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford in 1893.

He was born in Reading, Berkshire on 27 January 1856 the son of the architect, William Ford Poulton and his wife, Georgina Sabrina Bagnall. He was educated at Oakley House School in Reading.

Between 1873 and 1876, Poulton studied at Jesus College, Oxford under George Rolleston and the anti-Darwinian entomologist John Obadiah Westwood, graduating with a first-class degree in natural science. He maintained an unbroken connection with the college for seventy years as scholar, lecturer and Fellow (appointed to a fellowship in 1898) until his death.

He was knighted by King George V in 1935.