David:

This was known to Harry and I. We have consistently referred to the species
as "Scalaria."  My explanation of this to Harry some time ago was:
<As for Carpenter's description, it is one of those "funny" cases where the
heading of the description is >"Opalia borealis Gld." but ahead of that
description is a discussion of the Subgenus Opalia. Among >others, Dall and
Sacco were noted for this confusing manner of citation.  See discussion in
the >Cancellarioidea Catalogue.  Because of this, the original genus is
Scalaria: Scalaria (Opalia) borealis >Carpenter, ex Gould.

dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Campbell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 1:03 PM
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] The destiny of Scalaria borealis "Gould" first half
of part 1 [of a total of three installments]


> Carpenter 1865 is available online through Google Books.
>
> A critical bit of the paper for this thread, not quoted by Harry, is
> that Carpenter explicitly identifies Opalia as a subgenus of Scalaria,
> even though his usage within the description of borealis is as if it
> were a genus.  Other authors do even a better job of hiding whether
> they regard a name as a genus or subgenus.  This makes borealis
> Carpenter a primary rather than secondary homonym.
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> 425 Scientific Collections
> University of Alabama
> "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
>
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