Thomas Penny

Thomas Penny (1532 to 1589) was an English physician and one of the first entomologists. None of his own writings survived, so he is known mainly through quotations in the work of other sixteenth century naturalists, among them the belief that he broke with Aristotle over the classification of caterpillars. He is remembered chiefly as a partner in the Insectorum sive Minimorum animalium theatrum, the Theatre of Insects, a work written jointly by Conrad Gessner, who died before it was finished, Edward Wotton, Thomas Muffet and Penny. He was the son of John Penny of Eskrigg in Gressingham, Lancashire, and married Margaret Lucas, the daughter of a master of requests to Edward VI. A Puritan, he kept a low profile under Queen Mary I. The article records that he suffered from asthma and treated himself with crushed woodlice mixed with wine.