Edward Richard Alston FLS FZS (1 December 1845 – 7 March 1881) was a Scottish zoologist.
He very early contributed to The Zoologist and various Scottish magazines, and ultimately became an acknowledged authority on mammalia and birds.
The division Mammalia in Salvin and Godman's Biologia Centrali-Americana was written by him, though its publication was incomplete at his death.
In 1880, he was elected zoological secretary of the Linnean Society, which office he held till his death from acute phthisis on 7 March 1881.
In 1874, he largely assisted Professor Thomas Bell in the second edition of British Quadrupeds.