Please ensure that you follow any code of conduct posted by the institution for use of these web-resources and respect copyright issues.
Biographies of Malacologists.
2,400 years of Malacology The Third Edition of “2,400 years of Malacology” by Eugene V. Coan,Alan R. Kabat & Richard E. Petit (2006) has just been posted on the web-site of the American Malacological Society at: http://www.malacological.org/publications/e pubs.html
Those of you who have used the appendices of collectors and collections in Peter Dance's History of Shell Collecting, will know how useful these resources can be when you are trying to track down a collection or know more about a particular collector. Coan et al.’s publication is following a new trend, as it is an epublication freely available to download as a PDF file. It's about 3.4 MB in size, so it will take a while to download, unless you have broadband at home.There are 664 pages in this catalogue which list biographies, obituaries and bibliographical papers on malacologists, conchologists, paleontologists, and others with an interest in molluscs.Amongst the interesting additions in this volume was the Danish collector, Hans Christian Andersen, more well-known for his children's stories, he was also an avid collector of land and freshwater molluscs.
The first edition was posted June 2004, followed by the second edition in January 2005.The Third Edition has extracted data from Cleevely (1983) and Lambrecht et al. (1938) hence has a more complete coverage of paleontologists and the nineteenth-century explorers and naturalists in Central and South America. Each update contains additional information posted in by numerous colleagues around the world, as well as the authors' own searches.They welcome information on sources missing from the bio-bibliography. Contact r.e.petit@att.net if you have further information on sources. (Edited from posting by Dick Petit on Conch-L)
NMGW Sources section for Melvill- Tomlin collection
In the Melvill-Tomlin collection there are over 700 recognised secondary sources of material.These collectors provided material to Melvill or Tomlin, often in exchange or to get their species identified.The section have started a programme of imaging letters in the archive (see previous contributions by Jennifer Gallichan in Mollusc World). On our web-site you can also find a list of these secondary sources along with information on obituaries.This is provided in both english and welsh:http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/ en/318/
Sherborn's Index Animalium
This digitisation project was funded by the Atherton Seidell Endowment Fund of the Smithsonian Institution.The volumes are now available as an on-line browsable or searchable database. Hence you can search this either by species name or look for a particular article.As Sherborn's index takes up a complete library shelf in Cardiff, this on-line tool is very useful for those who are interested in nomenclature but don't have access to a large library in their study. Sherborn notes at the end of his mammoth task compiling these volumes, that he hoped that the projects to compile lists of names would continue, as he saved every Zoologist much time duplicating their efforts to search out new publications containing species names. http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/index animalium/
Neaves Nomenclator Zoologicus
Funding from GBIF and the Andrew Mellon Foundation has allowed for Sheffield Neave's Nomenclator Zoologicus to be made available through the internet; this is a list of all genera and subgenera in Zoology from 1758 (volumes 1-9), and has been updated to included names 1994 to 2004 (Volume 10). In addition there is an editorial tool that allows the digitized copy to be reviewed against the original printed form and corrected when transcription errors are detected.This tool allows reviewers to register and be credited for their work.
http://uio.mbl.edu/NomenclatorZoologicus/
Looking for an out of print book?
Check out GALLICA - this is the official site of the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris). The library have undertaken a digitisation programme scanning many old reference books and saving them as page images, in Adobe PDF format.This library provides access to some 15 million pages of classics texts. Included are some classical malacological works:
Lister (1685) - Historiae Conchyliorum.
Available at: http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout. exe?E=0&O=N098966
Lister (1696) - Conchyliorum Bivalvium.
Available at: http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout. exe?E=0&O=N099094
Lister (1823) - Historia sive Synopsis Methodica Conchyliorum, Editio Tertia.
Available at: http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout. exe?E=0&O=N098967
Jeffreys, John Gwyn. Marine shells......
Available at: http://gallica.bnf.fr/scripts/ConsultationTout. exe?E=0&O=N099088
Lovell, M. S. The edible mollusca of Great Britain and Ireland with recipes for cooking them.
The GALLICA search, retrieval, and download system is simple and free of cost. To search, go to the GALLICA site and click on Recherche.Type in author, title, or search by subject.To download an article, click on Telecharge, and you will be given the option to download a specific page or the entire work as either a pdf file or a TIFF file.
Find out about the routes of Challenger Expedition
One of the classic expedition reports from last century was those of the Challenger expedition.The expdition sampled over 360 stations from atlantic through into the pacific oceans. On return the scientific samples were distributed to over 100 scientists, who worked with John Murray, to produce The Report of the Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-76. Over 50 volumes were published between 1885 and 1895.The charts of the route of the Challenger expedition have been digitised and posted on:
http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemo ne2/charts/1_2_small.jpg
Update of Malacolog
Malacolog 4.0 is now online , with expanded coverage including Western Atlantic bivalves, scaphopods, chitons, aplacophorans, and monoplacophorans. With the addition of these groups, Malacolog documents more than 6000 species of marine mollusks in the Western Atlantic that are currently considered valid, and records more than 14,000 names. Taxonomic and geographic data for these other groups are not as complete as for gastropods. (Editted from a posting by Gary Rosenberg on Conch-L)
Compiled by Dr Mary B. Seddon
Department of Biodiversity & Systematic Biology
National Museums & Galleries of Wales
Cathays Park Cardiff
Section web-site http://www.nmgw.ac.uk/ www.php/123/
Collection databases search: http://zoology.nmgw.ac.uk:591/ Museum/mollusca.htm
New Books
Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families
Philippe Bouchet & J.-P. Rocroi [eds] - (2005)
This is published as a volume of Malacologia, but is also available as a separate volume from Conchbooks. It is a revised classification of the Gastropoda, hence superseding Ponder & Lindberg's classification. It goes further as for each name a full bibliographic reference is given, with date of publication, type genus, nomenclatural availability and validity under the rules of the ICZN. It covers 2,400 suprageneric names in recent and fossil gastropods, from the subtribe to the superfamily.A further 730 names of higher taxa are listed separately.Altogether 611 valid families, 202 of them exclusively fossil, are recognised in the proposed classification. Bouchet and Rocroi are working on a similar volume which deals with all generic names. The book can be ordered from Conchbooks (Code W1140). Euro44,00 plus postage.