Latin, a side issue

[Peter Bostock]

At 00:05 8/03/99 EST, you wrote:
>Mary Barkworth wrote:
>
>> I am curious: How much are people paying
>>  for Latin translations - or being paid?  I gave the classics faculty member
>>  a book on the local plants - he said that he and his wife enjoy hiking.
>>  Pretty cheap really.
>
>I ask $15 an hour.  Made over $50 last year!
>
>Mark A. Garland
>Florida Department of Environmental Protection
>
>

Hey, Mark, I think I'm ahead of you, just, by virtue of a couple of gifts of
publications (a book on Fungi and a diary featuring New Zealand landscapes),
although I didn't solicit these. There are 3 of us at BRI (only 1
classically trained) and at a rough guess perhaps 10 other botanists around
Australia, who undertake diagnoses and descriptions for free. In addition,
quite a few more Aussie botanists do their own. Maybe we have simpler
diagnoses! You know... Xxx yyy, sp. nov, with affinity to Xxx zzz but
differing by ..... and .... and ....

It was a big step for me to begin writing Latin diagnoses for myself and
others, but having begun, I haven't yet had any reason to regret the step.
Have made mistakes, but in my experience these are rarely picked up by
Editors of journals, and only occasionally by referees. I hope that anyone
who finds my Latin unacceptable will tell me  (email my work or home address
for references!).
-------------------------------------------------------
Peter D. Bostock, Senior Botanist, Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane
pbostock at ozemail.com.au (also peter.bostock at env.qld.gov.au)
Web http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pbostock (TRANSLAT Bot.
Latin translation program (freeware) available at web site)