Turns out that when Linnaeus (1758) named the species, he wrote Strombus
canariu. The last letter was inadvertently dropped. Ever since, people have
filled in a "m". However, canarius, -a, -um is the Latin word for "canine"
(i.e. "of or pertaining to dogs"), and so to agree with the masculine
Strombus, the name should be Strombus canarius, not Strombus canarium.
Gary
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Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D. [log in to unmask]
Malacology & Invertebrate Paleontology gopher://erato.acnatsci.org
Academy of Natural Sciences http://www.acnatsci.org
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