Scriba?

[Derek Sikes]

Dear Taxacomers,

I've got a number of beetle specimens from the Forschungsinstitut
Senckenberg (SMFD) in Frankfurt that have the term 'Scriba' on their labels:

Ostreich Scriba
Babenbau- sen, Scriba
Hassia, Scriba
Oberlais Scriba
Calvados Scriba
Hessen Scriba
Hildesheim Scriba
Stuttgart Scriba
Wimpfen, Scriba
Ungarn Scriba

I've determined that Scriba means 'scribe' in latin (public? scribe). Does
anyone know why it is on all these labels? They lack dates but appear to be
all from the late 1800s and early 1900s. One possibility is that the labels
were written/printed by a 'scribe' hired by the collector/curator? Or
perhaps this is a collector's name?

Thanks,
Derek Sikes
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Derek Sikes
Dept. of Ecology and Evol. Biology U-43
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269  USA

FAX: 860-486-6364

dss95002 at uconnvm.uconn.edu
http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/sikes

"Remember that Truth alone is the matter you are in Search after; and if you
have been mistaken, let no Vanity reduce you to persist in your mistake."
Henry Baker, London, 1785
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