Eduard Killias (1 March 1829, in Chur – 14 November 1891, in Chur) was a Swiss physician and naturalist.

He studied medicine in Tübingen, Zurich, Bern, Prague and Vienna, obtaining his doctorate in medicine and surgery in 1852. Afterwards, he worked as a physician in his hometown of Chur and as a balneologist in Tarasp. He was long-time president of the Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens (1859–1891) and also served as vice-president of the Historisch-Antiquarischen Gesellschaft Graubündens.[1][2]

He was the author of several works on bryophytes native to the canton of Graubünden, and in the field of entomology, he was principal author of the five-volume "Beiträge zu einem Verzeichnisse der Insectenfauna Graubündens".[3] His studies on the mineral waters at Tarasp were later translated into English and published as "Tarasp and its mineral waters" (Nettleton Balme Whitby; publisher: London: Bosworth, 1870).[4]

Taxa with the specific epithet of killiasii are named after him, an example being the moss species, Orthotrichum killiasii (Müll.Hal.).[5]

Botanical works

• Verzeichniss der bündnerischen Laubmoose. — Jahresbericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens n. F. 4: 77–134. (1859) – Directory of Graubünden mosses.
• Beiträge zur rhätischen Flora. — Jahresbericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens n. F. 5: 71–81. (1860) Contributions to Rhaetian flora.
• Zweiter Nachtrag zu den Moos- und Flechtenverzeichnissen. — Jahresbericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens n. F. 6: 245–251. (1861) – Second addendum to moss and lichen directories.
• Laubmoose. (unter: Beiträge zur bündnerischen Kryptogamenflora). — Jahresbericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens n. F. 11: 183–188. (1866) – Mosses, Contributions to Graubünden cryptogamic flora
• Lebermoose. (unter: Beiträge zur bündnerischen Kryptogamenflora). — Jahresbericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens n. F. 11: 189–200. (1866) – Liverworts, Contributions to Graubünden cryptogamic flora.
• Die Flora des Unterengadins. — Jahresbericht der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Graubündens n. F. 31 (Beilage): I–LXXV, 1–266. (1888) – The flora of the Lower Engadine.[2]

References