Catharine Johnston

Catharine Johnston (née Charles; 1794–1871) was an English botanical illustrator who had a species of marine animal named in her honour.

[3] On 23 November 1819, she married George Johnston,[4] a naturalist, and moved to Berwick-on-Tweed, where the couple resided permanently.

[5] She assisted her husband in his natural history investigations and illustrated his publications with scientific drawings.

[8] In 1853 Philip Henry Gosse named the marine species Tomopteris (Johnstonella) catharina in her honor stating: The crystalline Johnstonella: I have pleasure of announcing a new animal of much elegance, which I believe to be of a hitherto unrecognised form.

I venture respectfully to appropriate to this marine animal, the surname and christian name of Mrs. Catharine Johnston, as a personal tribute of gratitude for the great aid which I have derived from her engravings in the study of zoophytology.

Botanical illustration of Hieracium murorum and Hieracium sylvaticum in Plate II by Catharine Johnston published in The Botany of the Eastern Borders . [ 1 ]
Johnstonella catharina from A naturalist's rambles on the Devonshire coast by P. H. Gosse, 1853. [ 8 ]