>Date:    Thu, 15 Jun 2000 02:46:05 +0000
>From:    Ross Mayhew <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Hey - am i invisible or what??? (question on the early history of
>         modern malacology)
>
>Let's try this again - someone must know why there are only a handful of
>mollucan publications for 30 years or so after Linneus invented the
>modern binomial system!

>There may be a simple explanation, but it has always seemed odd to me
>that from Linneues' establishing of the modern binomial system in 1758,
>hardly any molluscs appear to have been described before Hwass in 1792,
>except for Chemnitz and Muller, and Linne himself: during this 34 year
>period, it seems that one can count the number of Molluscan taxonomy
>papers on the fingers of one or two hands - why????

Unionids described in the time period 1758 - 1792 (excluding Linnaeus)

Mya corrugata Muller 1774
Mya syrmatophora Meuschen 1781 in Gronovius, L.T.
Mya complanata Lightfoot 1786
Mya rugosa Gmelin 1788
Unio crassus Retzius    1788
Unio spuria Gmelin 1788
Unio tumida Philipsson 1788
Mytilus dubius Gmelin 1791
Mya radiata Gmelin      1792
Anodontites crispata    Bruguiere 1792
Unio granosa Bruguiere 1792
Kevin S. Cummings
Research Scientist
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
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http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk.html