Buchan’s Domestic Medicine and Thomas Huggan, drunken surgeon of the Bounty

The sixth-edition copy (1779) of William Buchan's Domestic Medicine that belonged to Thomas Huggan, surgeon of the Bounty (d.1788 at Tahiti), has been in the National Maritime Museum since 1963. This research note comments on the implications of annotations in it, briefly considers its owner in the context of the status of naval surgeons at the time, and provides hitherto unpublished information on his prior career history and connections.

Les Himantariidae ouest-européens, avec la description d’une nouvelle espèce du genre Stigmatogaster Latzel, 1880 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha)

The Western-European Himantariidae, with the description of a new species of the genus Stigmatogaster Latzel, 1880 (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha). After an examination of one or several specimens of almost all of the Western-European species of the genus Stigmatogaster, a new species is described: S. tufi n. sp. apparently endemic to Corsica. New morphological details are given on several Western-European Himantariidae, particularly Stigmatogaster sardoa which is described in detail and confirmed as clearly valid, for some characters of S. excavata and for the female of Himantariella scutellaris which was previously unknown. S. arcisherculis has been again identified in France after 95 years without records in this country. All species so far variously assigned to either Haplophilus or Stigmatogaster are here classified in a single genus Stigmatogaster. Preliminary illustrated identification keys for the Western-European genera of Himantariidae and for the Stigmatogaster species are given also in English. An updated checklist of the Western-European Himantariidae with their distribution is given. Thanks to unpublished information of Lucio Bonato, Himantarium mediterraneum is confirmed in Europe.

Trend, Status, and Challenges of Irrigation Development in Ethiopia—A Review

Ethiopia’s food supply and economy in general is largely dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Hence, irrigation development is vital to minimize the risk of crop failure and sustain agricultural production. The purpose of this review was to collect published and unpublished information from relevant sources and then review and synthesize key information on the trends and status of irrigation development and challenges threatening its implementation and sustainability. Historically, traditional irrigation based on farmers’ own initiative and indigenous knowledge has been practiced in Ethiopia for over 2000 years. However, well-planned, government-funded medium and large-scale irrigation development started only three decades ago. Specifically, significant progresses have been registered during the implementation of two consecutive five-year plans, the “Growth and Transformation Plans”. Currently, the total area equipped for irrigation has reached some 3.07 million hectares. However, the actual area irrigated is lower than this figure. The challenges facing the irrigation sector are related to study and design, construction or implementation, irrigation management, and lack of other support services such as extension, input services, and market. While the expansion of irrigation is still important, the poor performances and operational management of existing irrigation schemes needs to be given equal attention. As many of the problems are related to capacity and capability limitations, there is an urgent need for institutional and capacity development for the irrigation sector.

Specimens of the Pacific longnose chimaera Harriotta raleighana Goode & Bean 1895 from the Mexican Pacific in scientific collections of Mexico and the world

Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish that live in waters more than 200 m deep. There are two species in the Rhinochimaeridae family, where only one, Harriotta raleighana, occurs in Mexican waters. It is considered a rare species for the country because of the number of observations and specimens collected in the Mexican Pacific, from Baja California to Colima, starting more than 100 years ago. This work integrates for the first time the published and unpublished information of this species for this region. Only seven specimens have been collected; they are deposited in different scientific collections of Mexico and the USA. Interestingly, none of these specimens were collected during surveys since all have been collected incidentally by fishermen. There is currently one specimen missing from a collection, a relevant issue due to its rareness. Samples must be deposited and preserved adequately for further studies about this rare and other deep-sea species, that improves the knowledge of the Mexican marine diversity.

Phenological stages of native Myrtaceae species based on the BBCH scale

The aim of this study was to characterize the development of flowers and fruits in native species of the family Myrtaceae based on the BBCH scale in search for unique and unpublished information about the Brazilian flora. The study was conducted in the Native Fruit Collection of the Federal Technological University of Parana, Campus Dois Vizinhos. We carried out photographic monitoring of eight species of the family Myrtaceae: pitanga tree, araçá-amarelo tree, cereja-da-mata tree, jabuticaba tree, ubajaí tree, guabiju tree, guabiroba tree, and sete-capote tree. The phenological stages follow the general BBCH scale for fruit species, in which the complete cycle of plant development is subdivided into 10 main phases. This study is the first to describe the phenological stages of these species according to the BBCH scale, which facilitates verification of all phases of different vegetative and reproductive stages of the investigated species. Such scales may serve as important and useful tools for appropriate management of orchards, and thereby improved fruit cultivation.

A New Project in Progress: Residence as Self-Presentation of Urban Elites. Architecture and Decoration of the House of Orpheus in Nea Paphos, the Ancient Capital of Cyprus. 1 Potentials and Prospects

The so-called House of Orpheus, explored under the direction of Demetrios Michaelides a few decades ago, has so far been studied only fragmentarily. Since 2018, a new project began whose objective is to complete the studies on the site. To this end, non-invasive fieldworks (at Nea Paphos) are currently performed as well as library and archival research focused on gathering all published and unpublished information on the House. The results of the new documentation made on the site, supplemented with archival data, will enable a virtual, three-dimensional reconstruction of selected architectural units. The collected material will serve to re-define the house’s spaces from a historical perspective. The comprehensive evaluation of the architecture of the House of Orpheus will become an important point of reference in studies on the residential architecture of ancient Cyprus and other regions of the eastern Mediterranean.

On the old archive of the Lăpușna County Court and on its 2345 documents from the 15th–19th centuries

On July 10, 1926, the First-President of the Lăpușna Court, judge Eugen Ionescu-Dârzeu and the regional manager of the Romanian Archives, L. T. Boga, signed the acceptance protocol for the old archive of the Lăpușna Court, which comprised around 2,345 documents. During the inventorying process, L. T. Boga and the archivists in Kishinev typed several copies of an opis, of which one (copy No. 3)—which I feature here—ended up in the collections of the Romanian Academy Library, probably from the archive of judge E. Ionescu-Dârzeu. Currently, this collection was integrated to Fund 220 within the Kishinev Archives. Following a global appraisal of the documents published from this archive, I may state that around a quarter of them (approximately 500) were edited, mainly by L. T. Boga and by the editors of the collection Moldova în epoca feudalismului. It is the responsibility of present or future researchers to edit integrally or as abstracts, on a theme-based or chronology-based approach, other documents within this collection. Until the fulfilment of this desideratum, the critical editing of this opis introduces in the scientific circuit around 2,000 documents, as abstracts. This important archival work tool comprises unpublished information about the history of Moldova, mostly of the regions left from the Pruth River, before and after 1812, concerning both the political and social history and the local history, the toponymy or the genealogy.

A Synopsis of the Genus Stipa (Poaceae) in Middle Asia, Including a Key to Species Identification, an Annotated Checklist, and Phytogeographic Analyses

The genus Stipa L. comprises over 150 species, all native to the Old World, where they grow in warm temperate regions throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is one of the largest genera in the family Poaceae in Middle Asia, where one of its diversity hotspots is located. However, identification of Middle Asian Stipa species is difficult because of the lack of new, comprehensive taxonomic studies including all of the species recorded in the region. We present a critical review of the Mid-Asian representatives of Stipa, together with an identification key and taxonomic listing. We relied on both published and unpublished information for the taxa involved, many of which are poorly known. For each taxon, we present a taxonomic and nomenclatural overview, habitat preferences, distribution, altitudinal range, and additional notes as deemed appropriate. We describe four new nothospecies: S. ×balkanabatica M. Nobis & P. D. Gudkova, S. ×dzungarica M. Nobis, S. ×pseudomacroglossa M. Nobis, S. ×subdrobovii M. Nobis & A. Nowak, one subspecies S. caucasica Schmalh. subsp. nikolai M. Nobis, A. Nobis & A. Nowak, and eight varieties: S. araxensis Grossh. var. mikojanovica M. Nobis, S. caucasica var. fanica M. Nobis, P. D. Gudkova & A. Nowak, S. drobovii (Tzvelev) Czerep. var. jarmica M. Nobis, S. drobovii var. persicorum M. Nobis, S. glareosa P. A. Smirn. var. nemegetica M. Nobis, S. kirghisorum P. A. Smirn. var. balkhashensis M. Nobis & P. D. Gudkova, S. richteriana Kar. & Kir. var. hirtifolia M. Nobis & A. Nowak, and S. ×subdrobovii var. pubescens M. Nobis & A. Nowak. Additionally, 12 new combinations, Achnatherum haussknechtii (Boiss.) M. Nobis, A. mandavillei (Freitag) M. Nobis, A. parviflorum (Desf.) M. Nobis, Neotrinia chitralensis (Bor) M. Nobis, S. badachschanica Roshev. var. pamirica (Roshev.) M. Nobis, S. borysthenica Klokov ex Prokudin var. anomala (P. A. Smirn.) M. Nobis, S. holosericea Trin. var. transcaucasica (Grossh.) M. Nobis, S. kirghisorum P. A. Smirn. var. ikonnikovii (Tzvelev) M. Nobis, S. macroglossa P. A. Smirn. var. kazachstanica (Kotuchov) M. Nobis, S. macroglossa var. kungeica (Golosk.) M. Nobis, S. richteriana var. jagnobica (Ovcz. & Czukav.) M. Nobis & A. Nowak, and S. zalesskii Wilensky var. turcomanica (P. A. Smirn.) M. Nobis are proposed, and the lectotypes for 14 taxa (S. arabica Trin. & Rupr., S. bungeana Trin. ex Bunge, S. caspia K. Koch, S. ×consanguinea Trin. & Rupr., S. effusa Mez, S. ×heptapotamica Golosk., S. jacquemontii Jaub. & Spach., S. kungeica Golosk., S. margelanica P. A. Smirn., S. richteriana, S. rubentiformis P. A. Smirn., S. sareptana A. K. Becker, S. tibetica Mez, and Timouria saposhnikovii Roshev.) are designated. In Middle Asia the genus Stipa comprises 98 taxa, including 72 species, four subspecies, and 22 varieties. Of the 72 species of feather grasses, 23 are of hybrid origin (nothospecies). In Middle Asia, feather grasses can be found at elevations from (0 to)300 to 4500(to 5000) m, but most are montane species. The greatest species richness is observed at altitudes between 1000 and 2500 m. Nineteen species grow above 3000 m, but only nine above 4000 m. The number of taxa (species and subspecies) growing in each country also varies considerably, with the highest noted in Kazakhstan (42), Tajikistan (40), and Kyrgyzstan (35). Of the 76 taxa of Stipa (species and subspecies) recorded in Middle Asia, 41 are confined to the region, with some being known only from a single country or mountain range. Distribution maps of selected species are provided.

About this title - New Caledonia: Geology, Geodynamic Evolution and Mineral Resources

This memoir summarizes current knowledge on the geology of New Caledonia, its geodynamic evolution and mineral resources, based on published and unpublished information. It comprises ten research papers, each addressing a particular geological assemblage or topic. After an introductory chapter and a review of the published geodynamic models of evolution of the SW Pacific, Chapters 3-5 focus on the main geological assemblages of Grande Terre: the pre-Late Cretaceous basement terranes, the Late Cretaceous to Eocene cover, and the Eocene Subduction-Obduction Complex, one of the largest and best-preserved in the world. Chapter 6 is devoted to the Loyalty Islands and Ridge. Chapter 7 deals with the mostly terrestrial post-obduction units, including regolith. Chapter 8 deals with palaeobiogeography and discusses plausible scenarios of biotic evolution. Chapters 9 and 10 provide a comprehensive review of New Caledonia's mineral resources. The volume will be of interest to stratigraphers, sedimentologists, marine geologists, palaeontologists, palaeogeographers, igneous and metamorphic petrologists, geochemists, geochronologists, and specialists in tectonics, geodynamic evolution, regoliths, ophiolites and economic geology.

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas

‘I am going to sink it.’ ‘You are not!’ ‘I am,’ he coldly replied. ‘Do not take it on yourself to judge me, monsieur.’ French naturalist Dr Aronnax embarks on an expedition to hunt down a sea monster, but discovers instead the Nautilus, a self-contained world built by its enigmatic captain. Together Nemo and Aronnax explore the underwater realms of the globe, undergo a transcendental experience amongst the ruins of Atlantis, and plant a black flag at the South Pole. Nemo';s mission is finally revealed to be a violent one-and his methods coldly efficient. Verne's classic novel has left a profound mark on subsequent centuries. Its themes are universal, its style alternately humorous and grandiose, its construction masterly. This new and unabridged translation brilliantly conveys the range of this seminal work. The volume also contains unpublished information about the novel's inception.