[Taxacom] Abbreviations/conventions in L. Agassiz' "Nomenclatoris Zoologici Index Universalis"

[Geoff Read]

Hi Tony,

In the example I found - Scolelepis Blainville 1828 (Scr. Scolecolepis) -
Neave was seemingly correct to attribute the first appearance of the 2nd
alternate spelling to Agassiz's listing (at least via my reading of the
occurrences reported by BHL). This is somewhat of a surprise to me as its
appearance is usually dated a decade or so later and attributed to
Malmgren (1867).  I doubt Agassiz was creating a new spelling though, or
emending anything. From the context he was indicating  it as a secondary
spelling he had seen, & thus thought a misspelling, or at least the junior
synonym. "Scr." might be from "scripsit" - 'he [someone else] has written
it'.

I wonder if there are multiple secondary names anywhere in Agassiz and how
Neave reported those.

Geoff

On Thu, July 12, 2012 1:15 pm, Tony.Rees at csiro.au wrote:

> The reason for caring (at all) about these is that over 2,100 generic
> names in Neave are credited to Agassiz 1846, Nomen. Zool. Index Univ. as
> the authority, the vast majority as "emend. pro..." although from the
> above it would seem mostly that he was recording alternative spellings
> under "Scr." - or am I perhaps wrong here? In practical terms it does make
> a difference, since emendations (justified or unjustified) are considered
> available names and therefore enter homonymy, while simple errors (i.e.
> incorrect subsequent spellings not intended as new names) do not.