These were soon followed by a stream of papers, unceasing until the time of his death. The first of his observations published in 1837 concerned the natural history of an oak gall wasp, followed by notes on habits of British ants. Abandoning his art profession for science Frederick still continued engraving for British Museum Catalogues of Hymenoptera and all illustrations of his own papers were executed by himself. After a vacancy was created in the Zoology Department of the British Museum in 1849 Frederick became engaged in arranging the Hymenoptera collection and soon was a regular employee at the Museum. In 1841 at the age of 36, Frederick was appointed the Curator of the Collections and Library of The Entomological Society of London but engraving continued to be his profession. Shuckard talked his friend over and soon young Frederick Smith became a zealous collector and observer of bees, ants, and beetles, quickly becoming well acquainted with British fauna. From this time he devoted all his energies to studies of the Hymenoptera. Amazed by its beauty, he turned his attention to insects and after seeing bees burrowing in sand he purchased Kirby's Monographia Apum Angliae. After Shuckard returned to his home town he had been spending his time "rambling over the downs" and on one of his excursions caught Cicindela campestris, a tiger beetle. In these early days neither of them exhibited an interest in insects. After school days he was an apprentice of a well known landscape engraver and shared an apartment with William Shuckard, another eminent entomologist and his life long friend. Frederick Smith was born in London in 1805. This synopsis is derived from Dunning, 1879 and Anonymous, 1879.
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