Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 4: ZoologyLinnean Society of London
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Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 4: Zoology
Linnean Society of London
Zoology -- Periodicals
The erased nomenclature of the species, however, was very dissimilar,
and was scrupulously based upon a supposed identity of the specimens
with those delineated by Rumphius, Klein, and d'Argenville. Assuredly
at that period of his career, our author entertained the same profound
respect for the laws of priority which is professed by all modern
naturalists; and I hesitate not to affirm that, from the crude and
inharmonious theories of his predecessors, he eliminated a system of
Conchology that was better suited to the requirements of the age he
lived in than any more elaborate arrangement would have been. For
simplicity attracts the student, whom a more complex (even if more
natural) method would repel; and for the collection of an adequate mass
of materials wherewith, eventually, to build up a more symmetrical and
widely-based structure, a multitude of comparatively unskilled labourers
is more efficacious than a small knot of the most erudite architects.
Before inviting the attention of my readers to the original headings of
the 'Museum Ulricæ,' and to my brief account of the variations in the
written copy from the text of the printed version, I must premise, that
it has not been my practice invariably to notice, in the summary, such
trifling differences of construction as the preferential use of the
ablative for the nominative case, where the verbal change involved no
alteration of the precise meaning.
MUSEUM LUDOVICÆ ULRICÆ REGINÆ.
CONCHYLIA.
CHITON, LEPAS.
Nothing relating to these two genera was found in the copy.
PHOLAS.
The _Pholas_ of the manuscript is perfectly dissimilar to that of the
'Systema.' Our author had evidently, when he first wrote the 'Museum
Ulricæ,' not appreciated the remarkably striking characteristics of this
group, having located the only species he then knew (for _P. candidus_
seems a subsequent discovery) with the _Solens_.
P. CANDIDUS. Not mentioned in the manuscript.
P. CRISPATUS. _Sol._ ovatus, obtusissimus, cardinis dente depresso
rotundato.
The Appendix to Lister was not cited; "Habitat in Anglia, Suecia," was
appended to the description, which in many respects was inferior to the
published one. The account of the hinge was merely "Cardo dente dilatato
rotundato extus excavato."
MYA.
The three incongruous forms assorted as _Myæ_ were not so united in the
MS.; the second being very properly placed with the _Mussels_, the other
two ascribed to _Solen_.
M. LUTRARIA. _Sol._ ovali-oblongus, cardine laterali dilatato
semiorbiculato.
In lieu of the reference to Lister (whose work does not appear to have
been consulted by our author at the period when this portion of his
manuscript was written), plate 45, figure N, of Rumphius was quoted as
illustrative. The published account of the hinge is much more complete
than the written one, which was apparently drawn up from a worn
specimen; it ran as follows: "Cardo extus vix gibbus, intus constans
laminis 2 semiorbiculatis concavis introrsum spectantibus."
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