On some Type-specimens of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art

1897 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 326-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Percy Hall Grimshaw
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
New Genus ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Histoire Naturelle ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
The University

The paper dealt with fifty-two species of butterflies and nineteen of beetles, the type-specimens of which had been discovered by the author in a collection purchased by the University of Edinburgh from M. Dufresne of Paris in the year 1819, and afterwards transferred to the Museum of Science and Art. In the case of the butterflies, the species referred to were described by Godart in the Encyclopédie Méthodique, while the beetles belonged to species described by Olivier in the same work, and also in his Histoire Naturelle des Insectes—Coléoptères, published about the same time. By the comparison of these original specimens with others in the Natural History Collections at the British Museum the author has been enabled to clear up many points in synonymy, etc., which have for nearly eighty years remained doubtful and obscure. The most important results of the investigations may be summarised as follows:—One of the beetles has been found by Mr Gahan, of the British Museum, to be the type of a new genus, which is characterised in the present paper, while the specimen upon which it is founded is probably unique; it has been found necessary to rename one species of butterfly and one beetle; errors in synonymy have been corrected in the case of nineteen species; and eight species hitherto wrongly placed have been referred to their proper genera.

scholarly journals I.—On some Type Specimens of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art

1900 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Percy Hall Grimshaw
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Histoire Naturelle ◽  
Public Property ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
Actual Type ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
The University

In the year 1819 the University of Edinburgh acquired by purchase a large zoological collection from M. Dufresne, of Paris, including a cabinet containing upwards of 12,000 specimens of insects. Some years later (in 1855), when the whole of the University collections were formally transferred to the Science and Art Department, the Dufresne cabinet became public property.While consulting lately the volume by Godart devoted to the article “Papilio” in the famous Encyclopédie Méthodique, I was surprised to see a reference to the “Dufresne cabinet” in one of the descriptions of new species, and it immediately occurred to me that the specimen in our possession must be the actual “type” of the species, which discovery led me to search carefully through the whole of the volumes devoted to insects in this well-known work, with a view to finding as many types as possible. At the same time, I thought it possible that Olivier, who wrote his great Histoire Naturelle des Insectes—Coléoptères about the same time, might also mention some of Dufresne's specimens, and this I found to be as I had anticipated.

The Lorisoid GenusArctocebus: Observations Based on the Type Material

1946 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. C. Osman Hill
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Natural History ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Original Description ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Museum ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Primate Anatomy ◽  
The University ◽  
A New Species

Instudying the literature relating to that little-known prosimian, the Angwántibo—with a view to incorporating the main facts known about it in a comprehensive work on primate anatomy at present in preparation—I had occasion to consult the original description of the species by J. A. Smith (1860). I there discovered that the type was a spirit specimen (an “adult” male) which was received in Edinburgh, along with a second male, from Old Calabar. There is some confusion in the literature as to the fate of these specimens and this should, I think, be cleared up. Both specimens were procured in 1859 by Rev. A. Robb, one being sent, indirectly, to Smith and the other to Andrew Murray. Smith recognized in his specimen something new and accordingly described it as a new species of Potto, placing it in Bennett's genusPerodicticusasP. calabarensis. He gave an assurance of his intention of depositing the type in the Natural History Museum of the University of Edinburgh, but later sent it to his friend Carruthers at the British Museum for comparison with Bennett's type ofPerodicticus potto. Some useful observations were made upon it by Carruthers and incorporated as an addendum to Smith's paper. The specimen was evidently returned to Edinburgh and found its way to the University, but in 1860 it was transferred, with other material, to the Edinburgh Industrial Museum (since 1904 the Royal Scottish Museum).With the kind assistance of Professor J. Ritchie I have succeeded in tracing it, and with the permission of Dr D. A. Allan, Director of the Museum, and the helpful co-operation of Dr A. C. Stephen, Keeper of Natural History, I have had the privilege of studying it.

scholarly journals Two new Asian Scaphytopiini leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) with description of a new genus

Zootaxa ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 1309 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
WU DAI ◽  
YALIN L. ZHANG ◽  
C. A. VIRAKTAMATH ◽  
M. D. WEBB
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Type Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
Bishop Museum ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Agricultural Sciences ◽  
The University

The following new leafhopper taxa of the deltocephaline tribe Scaphytopiini are described: Grammacephalus furcatus Dai & Zhang sp. nov. from China, and Sikhamani Viraktamath & Webb gen. nov. with type species S. delicatula Viraktamath & Webb sp. nov. from Nepal and China. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations of the new species are given and a checklist to the species of Grammacephalus Haupt is provided. The type specimens are deposited in the Entomological Museum of Northwest A&F University, The Natural History Museum, London, the B.P. Bishop Museum, Hawaii, U.S.A. and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India.

John Robertson Henderson (1863–1925): Scotland, India and anomuran taxonomy

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
P. G. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Christian College ◽  
Apparent Absence ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Marine Station ◽  
The University ◽  
Crustacean Taxonomy

John Robertson Henderson was born in Scotland and educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he qualified as a doctor. His interest in marine natural history was fostered at the Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research at Granton (near Edinburgh) where his focus on anomuran crustaceans emerged, to the extent that he was eventually invited to compile the anomuran volume of the Challenger expedition reports. He left Scotland for India in autumn 1885 to take up the Chair of Zoology at Madras Christian College, shortly after its establishment. He continued working on crustacean taxonomy, producing substantial contributions to the field; returning to Scotland in retirement in 1919. The apparent absence of communication with Alfred William Alcock, a surgeon-naturalist with overlapping interests in India, is highlighted but not resolved.

scholarly journals 4. On some Congenital Deformities of the Human Skull

1866 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 444-449
Author(s):  
Wm. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Human Skull ◽  
Congenital Deformities ◽  
Premature Closure ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
The University ◽  
Living Person

1st, Scaphocephalus.—After making reference to his previous papers, more especially to that in which he had described several specimens of the scaphocephalic skull, in which he had discussed the influence exercised on the production of deformities of the cranium, by a premature closure or obliteration of the sutures, and to the recent memoirs of Professor von Düben of Stockholm,† and Dr John Thurnam, the author proceeded to relate two additional cases of scaphocephalus to those he had already recorded. He had met with one of these in the head of a living person, the other in a skull in the Natural History Museum of the University of Edinburgh.

2. On the Natural History of Lewis

1866 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 615-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duns
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Indigenous Plants ◽  
Full Account ◽  
The People ◽  
Outer Hebrides ◽  
History Of ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Moral Condition ◽  
The University

Comparatively little attention has been given to the natural history of Lewis. Stray notices of the geology, botany, and zoology of the Outer Hebrides are to be met with, but, with one or two exceptions, these are not of much value. Martin's “Description of the Western Islands (1703),” is chiefly interesting for its full account of the industrial and moral condition of the people. Little, however, can be made of his incidental references to the natural history of the islands. Two volumes on the “Economical History of the Hebrides,” by Rev. Dr Walker, Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, were published in 1808, after Dr Walker's death. This work contains a good deal of information on indigenous plants, but almost none on zoology. Dr Maculloch's “Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (3 vols., 1819)” is in every way an abler and better work than either of the two now named. Its notices of the geology and mineralogy of the Outer Hebrides are even still valuable.

scholarly journals A New Genus of Nematodes Parasitic in Elephants

Parasitology ◽  
1921 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Baylis
Keyword(s):  
New Genus ◽  
British Museum ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
The Other ◽  
Type Specimens ◽  
Single Male ◽  
Male Specimen

A Re-Examination of the type-specimens of “Sclerostoma” clathratum Baird from the African elephant, which are in the British Museum, has led to a rather interesting discovery. The material was contained in two bottles, labelled in Baird's own handwriting. One bore the name “Sclerostoma clathratum Baird,” and contained a single male specimen of the form now known as Grammocephalus clathratus. The other bottle was labelled “Sclerostoma clathratum Baird, ♀,” and proved to contain worms of both sexes and of quite a different type from Grammocephalus.

Tracking changes in natural history collections utilization: A case study at the Museum of Southwestern Biology at the University of New Mexico

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany L. Abrahamson
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
University Of New Mexico ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
History Of ◽  
Data Source ◽  
History Of Use ◽  
The University

AbstractNatural history collections (NHCs) are used in many fields of study, but general knowledge regarding their uses is poor. Because of this, funding and support for NHCs frequently fluctuate. One way in which collections professionals can illustrate a collection’s contribution to a variety of fields is based on the collection’s history of use. Tracking NHC utilization through time can increase NHC value to others outside of the collection, allow for the analysis of changes in specimen-based research trends, and assist in effective collection management. This case study focuses on NHC usage records held by the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB), a currently growing university collection used in many research fields, and presents methods for quantifying collections utilization through time. Through an exploration of these data, this paper illustrates MSB’s growth and changes in research produced over time and offers explanations for the changes observed. Last, this study provides suggestions for how collections professionals can most greatly benefit from considering NHC records as a data source. Understanding NHC usage from “the collection’s perspective” provides a new way for NHC professionals to understand NHCs’ value in the context of the research it supports and demonstrates the importance of this key infrastructure to a broader audience.

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