A few weeks ago, we discussed Linnaeus' character, specifically, his sense
of humor. His life is well documented for an eighteenth-century person, and
it seems to me that most Conchlers would have enjoyed his company. Among
other things, he loved field trips, teaching, good conversation, and
classifying organisms, and his students adored him. He was not just wrapped
up in his plants, but wrote on a variety of topics. Of course, he was more
interested in botany than anything else, and his taxonomy of the mollusks
is nightmarish, though no worse than his contemporaries'. I have great
respect for Linnaeus.
 
But to return to Linnaeus' sense of humor. The eclectic research of Stephen
Jay Gould has turned up Linnaeus' "Fundamenta Testaceologiae", published in
1771. I frankly don't know how to present this information on Conch-L,
except to say that he not only displayed low humor when he named Venus, but
also extended the joke farther than I would have imagined. Well, see for
yourself, in:
 
Gould, S. J., 1998, "The clam stripped bare by her naturalists, even", p.
77-98 in Leonardo's mountain of clams and the Diet of Worms: essays on
natural history: New York, Harmony Books, 422 p.
 
Have a joyous new year!
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama