There is information on your question in:

Kohn, A. J. 1992. A Chronological Taxonomy of Conus, 1758-1840. Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington D. C., pp. 315.

The short version is that Linnaeus listed references to illustrations of
many different cones in the original description.  Each subsequent reviser
(Hanley in the 1850s & Dodge in the 1950s) noted this but did not take
action to clarify the situation.  Alan Kohn finally designated a lectotype
in 1963 when he studied the Linnaean cones and realized that the species
needed to be better defined.  Ironically, the shell desigated as the
lectotype for Conus aulicus is not in the Linnaean collection on the
website, but in the Royal (MLU) collection which is preserved at the
university in Uppsala, Sweden.

Bill Fenzan
Norfolk, Virginia, USA


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Monfils" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Photos of the Linnaean mollusk collection online


>A number of taxonomic questions came to mind in viewing the Linnaeus
> collection. Just a sample one. Perhaps an explanation on this one will
> help
> makes sense of some of my others. The shell labeled "Conus aulicus" is
> obviously not what we now know as Conus aulicus.  If the pictured shell is
> the one Linnaeus assigned that name to, how did a different shell end up
> with that name?
>
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