No subject

[Geoff Witten]

At 12:33 18/02/99 -0400, Les Kaufman wrote:
>If western goddesses, then why not local totems?   It would be nice to
>preserve local cultural sentiments regarding species that are sometimes
>long-known to local peoples however new they may be to our sciences.
>
We have a couple of agamids from Australia where this has happened
(Ctenophorus gibba, from the local name for lizard, and C. tjantjalka).
This seems like a good idea to me despite the spelling horrors of the
second.  In a country where the indiginous culture will inevitably be
submerged the erection of a couple of totem poles in the nomenclature seems
like a nice gesture.

>
>
>Les Kaufman
>Boston University Marine Program
>Department of Biology
>Boston University
>5 Cummington Street
>Boston, MA 02215
>
>e-mail: lesk at bio.bu.edu
>phone: 617-353-5560
>fax:   617-353-6340
>
>
> Ex Africa semper aliquid novi.
>"There is always something new out of Africa."
> - Pliny the Elder
>
>
Geoff Witten
Department of Human Biology and Movement Science
RMIT
PO Box 71
BUNDOORA Victoria 3083
Ph 061 03 9925 7589
Fax 061 03 9467 8589