So maybe this was an attempt at stylized 
venacular; e.g.  incongruous semele, pallid 
marginella, Atlantic deer cowrie, e e cummings ... !

At 08:35 AM 11/11/2016, you wrote:
>On 11/11/2016 12:43 AM, worldwide wrote:
>>Based on the outcome of conventions created for the AFS names project
>>they ended up out of sync with the Associated Press Stylebook, the bible
>>of news writers.
>
>* yes, this document is the bane of those who 
>recognize monophyletic taxa as proper nouns - 
>but it's not a document written by philosophers 
>of biology, which, you would think, should be 
>the group to decide whether a monophyletic group 
>is "an individual" with a name that's a proper noun.
>
>>For animal names such as the dog, the frog, or the thrush, the names are
>>lower case.  Specific animals names are to be Capitalized, e.g. Painted
>>Frog or Ruby-Throated Thrush.
>
>* this is the idea that somehow higher taxa, no 
>matter how monophyletic, don't deserve the same 
>respect as species. I think this derives from 
>some writers/editors capitalizing species' names 
>just by copying their capitalization in 
>'official' lists of names, many of which are 
>more or less artificial, and at least officially 
>adjudicated by some committee such as the AFS or 
>AOU, while 'Bird' or 'Salamander' are vernacular 
>terms. With Molluscs we have few vernacular 
>terms above the generic level which correspond 
>to monophyletic groups (is "Tadpole Snail" ever 
>actually used for Physidae?), so most names of 
>higher taxa will be the scientific names, which 
>are pretty universally capitalized when used as English.
>
>There's also the uncertainty about the monophyly 
>of some named groups, making the capitalization 
>in any document a record - quelle horreur! - of 
>the author's understanding of the taxon's status 
>at the time of writing, an uncertainty which gives many editors the jitters.
>
>fred.
>=======================================================
>
>>At 09:21 PM 11/10/2016, you wrote:
>>>Dear Leslie,
>>>
>>>It certainly would be great if you could document all of this when
>>>time permits.
>>>
>>>Intuition and admittedly enfeebled recollection lead me to believe the
>>>use of lower case for the initial letters of vernacular names has a
>>>more deep-seated origin/philosophy than mere simplicity of keyboard
>>>operation.
>>>
>>>Harry
>>>
>>>PS: POV must mean point of view - and AFS American Fisheries Society. HGL
>>>
>>>
>>>At 08:51 PM 11/10/2016, Leslie Crnkovic wrote:
>>>>Hello Susan,
>>>>
>>>>To provide a historical perspective...
>>>>Going back to the 1988 1st edition of the AFS Common and Scientific
>>>>Names of Mollusca... Turgeon et al
>>>>
>>>>When working on a research paper some 12 to 14 years ago, I actually
>>>>interviewed Turgeon on the matter.
>>>>The reasoning at that time (consider the state of the PC and
>>>>Typewriter of the late 80s), the POV of the AFS was that it was extra
>>>>effort to make sure that each word was capitalized and to assure
>>>>consistency they standardized all lower case.  Note, they were doing
>>>>Fish and Crustacea also.
>>>>
>>>>R. Tucker Abbott was deeply involved in the original debate, and
>>>>ultimately lost the battle to capitalize these 'formal' names.
>>>>Abbott wrote several articles on the topic (don’t have access to
>>>>the references at the moment), in one article I remember was him
>>>>referencing an article he wrote called "Non-Capps Poops" but it that
>>>>appears to have never been published.  Best guess is it was submitted
>>>>to Astronaut Trail Shell Club.
>>>>
>>>>Hope that helps,
>>>>
>>>>Leslie Crnkovic
>>>>San Jacinto College
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
>>>>Of Susan J. Hewitt
>>>>Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2016 12:51 PM
>>>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>Subject: [CONCH-L] Common names and capital letters
>>>>
>>>>I am currently helping put together a marine field guide for a small
>>>>Dutch Caribbean island.  The guide will be in British English, and it
>>>>will include fish and a whole range of invertebrate phyla as well as
>>>>marine plants. The marine mollusks (spelled molluscs) are one
>>>>chapter. For each species covered, the common name will be listed
>>>>first, and then the scientific name.
>>>>
>>>>I see that "Names of marine mollusks" by Turgeon et al, 1998, stated
>>>>that common names in text should be used without capital letters,
>>>>except where a proper noun is part of the common name.
>>>>
>>>>However, that opinion seems to have changed. On the fisheries.org
>>>>website,
>>>>
>>>>http://fisheries.org/docs/pub_style10.pdf
>>>>
>>>>The text states:
>>>>
>>>>"Most common names of fishes are now capitalized (see section 9.7 for
>>>>further information)."
>>>>
>>>>Section 9.7 clearly states:
>>>>
>>>>"Following the usage in the 7th edition of Common and Scientific
>>>>Names of Fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico (AFS
>>>>Special Publication 34; 2013), new rules apply to the capitalization
>>>>of species names.
>>>>Capitalize the common names of all fish species, including those not
>>>>in Common and Scientific Names and other AFS taxonomic publications."
>>>>
>>>>The field guide we are preparing must use a unified system for the
>>>>common names of all phyla, so I am planning to recommend that in the
>>>>text we capitalize both parts of the common name (or where applicable
>>>>all three parts) for all of the phyla including mollusks. So it would
>>>>read like this "The Chestnut Turban is a common species in this area."
>>>>
>>>>Any comments?
>>>>
>>>>Personally I find that capitalization makes the common name stand out
>>>>more clearly from the surrounding words, so I am quite happy to do this.
>>>>
>>>>I will be grateful for any feedback.
>>>>
>>>>Susan J. Hewitt
>>>
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