From: aceska@CUE.BC.CA (Adolf Ceska)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: BEN # 48
Date: 23 Jan 93 16:24:00 GMT
Distribution: bionet


BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N          ISSN 1188-603X
BB   B   EE       NNN  N
BBBBB    EEEEE    NN N N          BOTANICAL
BB   B   EE       NN  NN          ELECTRONIC
BBBBB    EEEEEE   NN   N          NEWS

No. 48                            January 23, 1993

Address: aceska@cue.bc.ca         Victoria, B.C.
----------------------------------------------------


MAIL STORM

I have no idea why some BEN readers received seven copies of
BEN #47. I wish I knew what happened, but I believe it was not
my fault. Those subscribers who reacted to the mail storm
claim that one copy of BEN is about all they can handle.
On the other hand, many subscribers did not get BEN # 43 and
44. I will try to send them again. If you have them already,
please, delete them from your mail box. - AC


FAIRCHILD TROPICAL GARDEN DISASTER SALE
From: Washington Post
.
The Fairchild Tropical Garden sold logs and boards from 1,300
trees downed Aug. 24, 1992 by Hurricane Andrew. Wood-turners and
artists came from as far away as Portland, Ore., to buy exotic
varieties seldom, if ever, seen on the market.  The top price of
$505 was paid for a 39 cm wide, 1.5 m length of Cephalanthus
orientalis (Rubiaceae), a species from the Himalayas with
brilliant yellow wood. Proceeds from the sale, around $31,000
after expenses, will be used in the restorations of the gardens.
.
If you want to contribute to the Fairchild Restoration Fund,
write to

  The Fairchild Tropical Garden
  10901 Old Cutler Road
  Coral Gables, Florida 33156
                                                          

CHARGING FEES FOR TAXONOMIC SERVICES
From: Association of Systematic Collections Newsletter (Aug.'92)

ASC Newsletter published and article written by the late
Dr. Henry K. Townes and submitted by Dr. Dave Wahl. Dr. Townes
wrote:

"It has been a tradition that taxonomic identifications of
biological specimens are courtesies extended without charge."

"In giving free assistance, some taxonomists are probably
remembering their own restricted finances. But most requests now
come from well-funded projects. The specimens sent for naming
probably cost hundreds of dollars to collect and rear. The time
of the project supervisor, research assistant, laboratory
technician, [etc.] all have been paid by the project budget.
Only the taxonomist, the one person who must have uncommon
qualifications, would have been forgotten in the budget, and he
is forgotten only because traditionally he does not ask to be
paid."

"As long as taxonomists find free determination work interesting
enough, and there are enough in the profession, this system
could continue. But that time has about passed. ... Taxonomy has
been downgraded and underpaid for the last three decades, and
its ratio to the rest of biological sciences has reached a low
ebb."

"Identifications for the scientific public should be on a fee
basis.  ... Income from identification fees would rarely be
substantial, but the most valuable result would be a changed
relation with colleagues in other fields. ... The customer also
would be in a better position. He would be paying for the work
and could expect a responsible job, and promptness."

"When or if fees become a general practice, a research project
involving the need for identification could be planned with more
confidence, and executed with more efficiency. Budgeting some
dollars for taxonomic work would give a reasonable surety that
the work could be done promptly and by good specialists. Begging
for free time, and uncertainty about whether or not the giver of
free time would function properly, would become less important
hazards."


BIODIVERSITY & BIOLOGICAL COLLECTION GOPHER 
From: TAXACOM [abridged]

The Biodiversity and Biological Collections Gopher has been
established to provide Internet access to various types of
systematics, biodiversity and biological collections
information. 

The Gopher is located at 'huh.harvard.edu,' and can be accessed
through any Gopher client program for DOS, OS/2, Macintosh, VMS,
Unix computers.  Access is unrestricted and available to any
user on an Internet-connected computer.

[This Gopher gives you access to many TAXACOM files, such as
botanical electronic journal Flora Online, reports from various
organizations, etc. The most important feature of this Gopher is
an on-line access to GRAY HERBARIUM INDEX OF NEW WORLD PLANTS.
You can look up any name from the Gray Index by genus and
species, but you can also ask questions that can only be handled
by the electronic search, such as, what species were described
by a certain author. Many thanks to huh.harvard.edu for
making this information freely available. - AC]


INDEX KEWENSIS ON CD-ROM
From: TAXACOMT <TAXACOMT@MSU.BITNET>

Joseph H. Kirkbride <jkirkbride@ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV> reported on
TAXACOMT that in July 1992 he saw a demonstration of a beta
version of the INDEX KEWENSIS (IK) on CD-ROM. The software is
being developed by the same company  that wrote the software for
the Oxford English Dictionary.

Oxford University Press will be selling the IK CD-ROM.  The
possible price is about US$4,000.00 for first time purchasers,
and the yearly update will be about US$400.00.

The database is an optical reading of the printed IK.  Computer
checks of the data have been made, such as verifying that the
year has only numerical characters, but each entry has not been
proof read.  To get it out in a reasonable time frame, the
optical reading errors have been left in, and will have to be
corrected over time as they are reported.

Two comments [AC]:

1) It would be nice to have a free on-line access to the INDEX
KEWENSIS in the same way as we have now to the GRAY HERBARIUM
INDEX thanks to the Biodiversity Gopher - see above.

2) I would not trust an optical reader, especially for the entry
of the earlier volumes of the INDEX KEWENSIS. Typographical
diversity of the old INDEX KEWENSIS volumes has to cause severe
headaches to any optical reader regardless its artificial IQ.