bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Workshop and Symposium in St Petersburg
Authors: Hinks Jonathan L.
Published: April 2008

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) holds a full conference every three years. The last conference was in Spain in 2006 and the next will be in Brazil in 2009. In the years when there is no conference an annual meeting is held. This is usually accompanied by a one-day symposium. In June 2007 the annual meeting was held in St Petersburg and was accompanied by a workshop on ‘Dams and hydropower in Russia and in the CIS countries’ and by a symposium on ‘Dam safety management. Role of state, private companies and public in designing, constructing and operating large dams’. 1
Security of stepped masonry spillways: lessons from Ulley dam
Authors: Mason Peter J. , Hinks Jonathan L.
Published: April 2008

The stepped masonry spillway at Ulley dam, near Rotherham, UK, failed during a flood on 25 June, 2007. Ulley reservoir was completed in 1873, and the average age of British dams is now about 110 years, so there are many spillways which predate the introduction of concrete and where masonry was used. This paper reviews the hydrodynamics of such spillways so that such lessons, coupled with data from previous research into stepped spillways, can be used by engineers assessing similar works in future.
Well Service: Impact of New Technology on Economics, Standards, Performance and Culture
Authors: Newman Fred M. , Dillingham Don , Ivanhoe K. D. "Karl"
Published: April 2008

This study produced a quantifiable dataset that provided analysis and interpretation of field activities over more than 20,000 rig-hours during a 14-month period. The data was obtained by sealed independent electronic measurement from selected well service providers performing assorted jobs during a variety of conditions. This work was begun because there are no known published or accredited standards or guidelines for well service performance. Primary focus of the study was overall job quality, rod and tubing make-up (measuring sequences in time increments of seconds), time studies, crew efficiency, and safety. Information stored on the rig recording unit was retrieved with remote electronics. Archived data was analyzed graphically and reported to well service and oil companies to develop and maintain well histories and crew efficiency, identify optimum procedures, safety, and time studies. Current industry quality-assurance practice is the occasional overview of well service crews by a field engineer or foreman. Those positions rely on visual perception and experience to judge service quality and procedures. Existing methods still result in extraordinary repeat failure rates and unresolved service problems. This new technology documents and resolves deficient intrinsic field cultural practices. Our empirical data and analysis conclusively show that repeat failure rates and downtime are reduced. Service crew awareness about their work and efficiency is raised to a higher level. Productivity increases, artificial lift costs decline, and fair accountability is maintained with permanent records. Oil companies are using this new technology to establish and monitor their alliances. Service companies are using the results to train crews in proper techniques. Credible reporting now enables and mandates performance over personalities when making long-term economic decisions. This technology will push evolution of the well service industry with the establishment of quality and performance standards. Quality standards rather than perceptions will be the basis for decisions.
Ultra-Deepwater Hydraulics and Well Control Tests with Extensive Instrumentation: Field Tests and Data Analysis
Authors: Rommetveit Rolv , Bjørkevoll Knut S. , Gravdal Jan Einar , Goncalves Clemente J.C. , Lage Antonio Carlos V.M. , Campos Jose E.A. , Aragão Átila F.L. , Arcelloni Alberto , Ohara Shiniti
Published: April 2008

Detailed measurements of downhole pressures and temperatures during simulated drilling operations at ultra deep water offshore Brazil have been performed. Sensors were placed at six different positions along the drillstring, and these made high frequency recordings of pressure and temperature during surges and swabs at different depths,gel breaking tests,circulation sweeps, andmigration of gas in the riser.

A remote operated vehicle (ROV) recorded temperature outside the riser during experiments to give input to a detailed study of heat transfer from drilling fluid inside riser to the seawater outside.

The paper presents a detailed analysis of the recorded data, including comparison with advanced transient computer models for pressure and temperature during drilling, circulation, and surge/swab. In addition, the gas migration is simulated with an advanced kick simulator.
Where do Underage College Students Get Alcohol?
Authors: Fabian Lindsey E. A. , Toomey Traci L. , Lenk Kathleen M. , Erickson Darin J.
Published: April 2008

Alcohol consumption and related problems are common among underage college students, yet qualitative, in-depth information on how/where these students obtain alcohol is limited. We conducted focus groups pertaining to access to alcohol and related issues with 19 underage college students. They reported that alcohol is easy to obtain from a variety of sources, with friends/acquaintances who are of legal age or those with a false ID being the most common. Parties were also common sources, but “shoulder tapping” (i.e., asking a stranger to purchase alcohol) was not common. Disagreement arose over whether underage fraternity/sorority members have greater access to alcohol than non-Greeks. Our results provide updated information on the various sources of alcohol and associated issues among underage college students.
Confirming the Structure of the Why Do You Smoke? Questionnaire: A Community Resource for Adolescent Tobacco Cessation
Authors: Smith Dennis W. , Lee Jay T. , Colwell Brian , Stevens-Manser Stacey
Published: April 2008

In response to the problem of adolescent smoking and limited appropriate cessation resources, this study examined the pattern and structure of the American Lung Association, Why Do You Smoke? (WDS) to determine its appropriateness for use in youth smoking cessation programs. The WDS is used to help smokers identify primary motivations for using tobacco and is comprised of eight subscales, each with three items representing primary smoking motivations (“Stimulation,” “Handling,” “Pleasure,” “Crutch,” “Psychological,” “Habit,” “Peer,” and “Independence”). Study participants were all minors enrolled in a tobacco cessation program ( n = 251). The pattern and structure of this self-assessment was examined using a correlated multiple group component factor analysis as a confirmatory approach. Findings show that the level of endorsement (as evidenced by subscale means and standard deviations) was relatively large across the eight subscales. Alpha coefficients ranged from .54 to .85. Results also underlined that the pattern coefficient matrix provided support for the hypothesized subscales through an examination of simultaneously extracted confidence intervals. These subscales should be further examined as to their usefulness in cessation interventions, such as the validity of using this instrument by gender, ethnicity, and age. However, from a measurement perspective, the confirmatory analysis provides excellent credence for the continued use of the WDS in cognitive/-behavioral intervention programs targeting adolescents.
Microvascular Architecture and Exchange in Teeth
Authors: Matthews B. , Andrew D.
Published: April 2008

Dental pulp is a low‐compliance tissue surrounded by an avascular hard tissue case. Resin casts of the microvasculature in teeth of limited growth show arterioles and venules arranged axially in the pulp with capillary loops extending out toward the dentine. The capillary density is high. There is ultrastructural evidence for lymphatics in pulp. Pulpal blood flow has been estimated in intact teeth using radiolabeled microspheres and found to be in the range 20–60 ml/min per 100 g tissue. One of the difficulties of studying this tissue is that a cavity has to be cut into the tooth with the inherent risks that this may affect the parameters under study. Measurements from exposed pulp indicate that the tissue fluid pressure is high and pulsatile. Furthermore, micropuncture studies have shown that the arteriolar pressure is lower and the venular pressure higher than in other tissues. When dentine is exposed in vivo, fluid moves out through the dentinal tubules and this appears to be formed by a process of ultrafiltration from the pulpal interstitial fluid. The flow is sufficient to retard significantly the diffusion of chemicals into dentine from the oral cavity.
Plasma Skimming in Vascular Trees: Numerical Estimates of Symmetry Recovery Lengths
Authors: Carr Russell T. , Xiao Jewen
Published: April 2008

A new model of plasma skimming in vascular trees that includes the history of disturbances at previous bifurcations is developed. The model calculates the shift in the red blood cell concentration profile by mapping streamlines through the junction; it then computes the dissipation of that disturbance through random collisions among the cells. A numerical solution of this model is compared to experimental data on plasma skimming in serial bifurcations. Numerical values of symmetry recovery lengths downstream of the bifurcation are calculated using the model. Comparison of the computed symmetry recovery lengths with anatomical measurements in hamster cremaster muscle indicate that asymmetries in red blood cell concentration profiles are important in vessels with diameters below 55 μm.
Responses of Cremasteric Arterioles of Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats to Changes in Extracellular K+ Concentration
Authors: Lombard Julian H. , Stekiel William J.
Published: April 2008

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the effect of changes in extracellular K+ concentration ([K+]0) on active tone in cremasteric arterioles of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their normotensive Wistar‐Kyoto (WKY) and Wistar controls.

Methods: Diameters of third‐ and fourth‐order arterioles were measured in the cremaster muscle of hypertensive and normotensive rats during abrupt changes in superfusate K+ concentration from 4.7 mM to 0 mM to 15 mM K+.

Results: Arterioles constricted in response to superfusion with 0 mM K+ and exhibited a large, transient dilation in response to an abrupt change from 0 mM to 15 mM [K+]o. Arteriolar dilation in response to 15 mM K+ was significantly larger in 12–15‐week‐old SHR than in WKY or Wistar controls. Arteriolar responses to 15 mM K+ were not significantly different in 4–6‐week‐old SHR and WKY. Dilator responses to 15 mM K+ were generally inhibited by 1 mM ouabain, although ouabain was less effective in inhibiting 15 mM K+‐induced dilation in arterioles of SHR and WKY than in Wistar rats.

Conclusions: Dilation of cremasteric arterioles in response to 15 mM [K+]0, is mediated, at least in part, via stimulation of the electrogenic Na+/K+ pump, although Na+/K+‐pump‐independent components may also contribute to the response. Arterioles of SHR with established hypertension exhibit an altered response to elevated [K+]0 which is not present in SHR in the early stage of hypertension.
Reactive Oxygen Species and Vascular Signal Transduction Mechanisms
Authors: WOLIN MICHAEL S.
Published: April 2008

Sources of reactive O2 species in the vessel wall that potentially contribute to the control of vascular tone include NADPH oxidases, arachidonic acid metabolizing enzymes, xanthine oxidase, nitric oxide synthase and mitochondria. Specific physiological stimuli (such as changes in PO2) as well as pathophysiological stimuli control the production of reactive O2 species by many of these sources. Certain key reactive O2 species activate specific signalling mechanisms that control vascular tone, often through processes involving the metabolism of these species. The production of prostaglandins and cyclic GMP are some of the most sensitive systems regulated by hydrogen peroxide; whereas the conversion of nitric oxide (NO) to peroxynitrite (ONOO−) and inhibition of the stimulation of the cytosolic form of guanylate cyclase are processes that are very sensitive to superoxide anion (O2·−). High levels of NO production readily result in the formation of significant amounts of ONOO−, because NO competes with superoxide dismutase for the metabolism of cellular O2·− and thereby activates additional signalling mechanisms such as regulation through thiol nitrosation. As the levels of individual reactive O2 species increase, other signalling mechanisms likely to participate in vascular responses to oxidant injury seem to become activated. Thus, evidence is developing to support the concept that reactive O2 species are important contributors to the control of vascular tone.
Cultured Murine Cerebral Microvascular Endothelial Cells Contain von Willebrand Factor‐Positive Weibel‐Palade Bodies and Support Rapid Cytokine‐Induced Neutrophil Adhesion
Authors: BARKALOW FERN J. , GOODMAN MICHAEL J. , MAYADAS TANYA N.
Published: April 2008

Objective: To obtain cultures of rodent brain microvascular endothelium (BMEC) that retain endothelial cell‐specific markers and functions for two purposes: investigating whether these cultures contain endothelial cell‐specific storage granules or Weibel‐Palade bodies and have the ability to rapidly bind neutrophils upon cytokine induction; and setting the groundwork for future studies examining endothelium derived from mice strains with targeted deficiencies in endothelial adhesion molecules.

Methods: Capillaries were obtained by collagenase/dispase digestion and subsequent density centrifugation of either rodent brain or meninges. The yield was then plated onto fibronectin‐coated dishes. For some studies, pure murine endothelial cultures were obtained by flow‐cytometric sorting, using uptake of fluorescently labeled diI‐acetylated low‐density lipoprotein as a marker for endothelium. Endothelial cell‐specific markers were analyzed via immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation and light microscopy. Cytokine‐induced neutrophil adhesion and associated upregulation of leukocyte adhesion molecules were measured as described previously for human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

Results: BMEC possess numerous von Willebrand factor–containing Weibel‐Palade bodies and synthesize and secrete all multimeric forms of von Willebrand factor. They take up diI‐acetylated low‐density lipoproteins, contain platelet‐endothelial cell adhesion molecules and form capillary‐like structures on three‐dimensional extracellular matrix substrates. Sorted murine brain microvascular endothelial cells treated with IL‐1β or TNF‐α for 4 h show an increase in surface expression of the cytokine‐inducible leukocyte adhesion molecules E‐selectin, VCAM‐1, and ICAM‐1, and they support rapid neutrophil adhesion, which is, on average, three times greater than that of nonstimulated cells.

Conclusions: The brain microvascular endothelial cultures described here exhibit many of the markers of endothelial cells including the presence of Weibel‐Palade bodies. The localization of von Willebrand factor almost exclusively to Weibel‐Palade bodies indicates that murine cerebral endothelium has evolved an efficient mechanism for storage of this platelet adhesion protein, which plays an important role in hemostasis. In addition, this is the first demonstration of rapid neutrophil adhesion to murine brain microvascular endothelial cells. Finally, the reproducible culture and the characterization of murine BMEC makes feasible future studies on endothelium isolated from gene‐targeted mice.
Peptides Derived from the Lectin Domain of Selectin Adhesion Molecules Inhibit Leukocyte Rolling In Vivo
Authors: NORMAN K. E. , SCHEDING C. , KUNKEL E. J. , HEAVNER G. A. , Ley K.
Published: April 2008

Objective: The selectins are a family of adhesion molecules that mediate leukocyte rolling, a prerequisite for their later firm adhesion and migration to sites of inflammation. The N‐terminal lectin domain of selectins is important for Ca2+‐dependent binding to oligosaccharide ligands. We set out to study the effect of peptides corresponding to residues 11–20, 23–30, 36–50, 54–63, 70–79 and 109–118 (counting from the N‐terminus of the mature proteins) of the lectin domain of human L‐, P‐ and E‐selectins on leukocyte rolling in vivo.

Methods: Peptides were applied by local intravascular microinfusion via a glass micropipette into rat mesenteric venules. Visibly rolling cells were counted off‐line and compared with rolling cells counted during control periods.

Results: Peptides corresponding to residues 70–79 of P‐selectin and 11–20 of L‐selectin reduced leukocyte rolling flux in rat mesenteric venules to less than 30% of that measured during control infusion. Peptides corresponding to residues 109–118 of P‐selectin, 54–63 of L‐selectin and 23–30 of E‐selectin also reduced leukocyte rolling flux, although to a lesser degree.

Conclusions: We have shown that small peptides based on the lectin domain of all three selectins can be effective inhibitors of leukocyte rolling in vivo.
The Publishing Experiences of Historians
Authors: Dalton Margaret Stieg
Published: April 2008

To obtain the views of scholars on the so-called crisis of the scholarly monograph, a questionnaire was sent to 1,416 historians in doctoral/research universities asking about experiences in getting their books published and their opinions on a range of issues relating to publication. Included were questions on refereeing, on the changes they have encountered in the publication process since their first book, on electronic publishing, and on expectations of the future. Additional questions related to their practices as readers and buyers of books. Among the major conclusions were that the refereeing process is considered essential and that it accomplishes its purposes successfully; that there exists widespread reluctance to publish in a format that is available only electronically; that the emphasis on the bottom line in university presses has had an impact on the topics historians have chosen to investigate; that there is no agreement on the kind of books that history needs, although many would like to see more attention paid to what individuals who are interested in history but are not themselves scholars would like to read; and that the majority of historians are not finding it more difficult to get their books published than they did earlier in their careers.
Acknowledging Clio's Lesser Children: The Importance of Journals for Historical Research and Scholarship
Authors: Hérubel Jean-Pierre V.M.
Published: April 2008

History journals are a major force in historical research and scholarship. Publishing research in journals offers scholars greater intellectual flexibility, increased specialization, and opportunities to engage in more innovative approaches to historical research. Although a counterpart to the monograph, the journal is not a lesser component in the scholarly communication of historical scholarship but a necessary agent in maintaining and expanding the purview of historical research and intellectual evolution. Without the scholarly history journal, historical research and published scholarship would be impoverished, less capable of creative evolution vis-à-vis disciplinary evolution and the generation of newer vectors of research.
A. A. H. Lichtenstein's (1794)Catalogus rerum naturalium rarissimarum sectio secundaon mollusks: an appraisal of taxa described in an overlooked tome
Authors: Geiger Daniel L.
Published: April 2008

Anton August Heinrich Lichtenstein (1753–1816) was a member of a dynasty of natural scientists from Hamburg. He wrote an overlooked sales catalog of mollusks (1794) in which two new bivalve and 13 new gastropod taxa were described. The species' identities are evaluated based on the original text written in German and Latin. Only two of his new species could be positively identified. Conus vincoomnes Lichtenstein, 1794 (nomen oblitum) is C. nobilis victor Broderip, 1842 (nomen protectum) and Haliotis clathrata Lichtenstein, 1794 (non Reeve, 1846; suppressed by ICZN Opinion 1950) is H. elegans Philippi, 1844 (placed on ICZN Official List). All the other taxa are at best only tentatively identified and their names are considered nomina dubia.
RevisingPlants, man and life: Edgar Anderson reshapes a classic book
Authors: Kleinman Kim
Published: April 2008

On at least four occasions, Edgar Anderson (1897–1969) began revising his book Plants, man and life (1952). Given both its place in Anderson's career and his place in the development of evolutionary theory in the mid-twentieth century, the emendations are noteworthy. Though a popular work, Plants, man and life served as the distillation of Anderson's ideas on hybridization as an evolutionary mechanism, the need for more scientific attention on domesticated and semi-domesticated plants, and the opportunities such plants provided for the study of evolution. Anderson was an active participant in several key events in what historians have come to call the Evolutionary Synthesis. For example, he and Ernst Mayr shared the 1941 Jesup Lectures on “Systematics and the origin of species”. Anderson's proposed revisions to his book reflect both an attempt to soften certain acerbic comments as well as an attempt to recast the book as a whole.
The University of Edinburgh natural history class lists 1782–1800
Authors: Eddy M. D.
Published: April 2008

In 1779 Revd Dr John Walker was appointed to be the University of Edinburgh's Professor of Natural History. Because of the institutional structure of the university, he took care to keep detailed class lists from 1782 to 1800. These are extant in the University of Edinburgh's Special Collections Department. As many of the students on the lists would go on to have a profound impact on the practice of nineteenth century natural history, I have compiled them into a table so that they can be used as a reference tool for those interested in the study of natural history in Edinburgh during the late eighteenth century. The table is arranged into columns that state the student's name, degree, year of attendance and geographic origin. To help the reader better understand the table, I have written a brief introductory essay that addresses Walker's organisation of the course and the types of students who attended the lectures. It also identifies the prominent role played by chemistry in Edinburgh's natural history community and discusses the foundation of the Student Natural History Society of Edinburgh.
George Bentham (1800–1884): the life of a botanist's botanist
Authors: Stevens P. F.
Published: April 2008

George Bentham (1800–1884) is seen as a pre-eminent botanist whose prodigious output was in part connected with his freedom from obligations other than his work and his legal background. The first 25 years of his life were spent in a variety of circumstances, the Bentham family being widely connected with European society; Bentham had no formal education. After some years of uncertainty as to his career, he married in 1833 and spent the rest of his life on taxonomic botany, producing some of the classic works of the nineteenth century. As a person, Bentham seems to have been rather shy and diffident about receiving honours. In the 1850s both he and his colleagues questioned his status as a botanist: was he an amateur or not? He was active in a number of institutions (the Horticultural, Zoological and in particular the Linnean societies, where he was president 1862–1874), although he generally preferred to follow others when trying to institute change. His manifest achievements as a botanist can only be understood when we clarify how he and other nineteenth century botanists saw the relationship between “natural” classifications and their taxonomic work, which they often treated as some kind of convention.
The logical systematist: George Bentham and hisOutline of a new system of logic
Authors: McOuat Gordon
Published: April 2008

George Bentham was not only a great natural historian, he was, initially, a philosopher and logician of enormous promise. His first published work, the oft-forgotten Outline of a new system of logic (1827) has been heralded by some as the opening salvo in the overthrow of the Aristotelian syllogism's grip on logical inference. The move was a defiant political gesture. The young Bentham composed Outline in close concert with his famous uncle, the great utilitarian Jeremy Bentham, expanding and evolving Jeremy's attempts at a new logical system. Bentham meant Outline to be a contribution to the development of the whole utilitarian project. Yet, after 1827, Bentham was never again to write explicitly on logic and philosophy. His heart seemed to lie in natural history, his first love. However, Bentham never really abandoned the utilitarian picture of logic and philosophy. Recent discoveries in the Bentham papers reveal the strong connection between the Benthamite attack on received philosophical categories and George's role in the development of modern institutional natural history. Bentham the logician can be discovered in Bentham the reformist naturalist. This paper examines Bentham's role in the development of the “new” logic and attempts to explore the notions of a reformed naturalism in his later works. This offers an explanation for Bentham's cautious response to the second great revolution of the nineteenth century: the Darwinian revolution.
Assistance at a distance: George Bentham, Ferdinand von Mueller and the production ofFlora australiensis
Authors: Lucas A. M.
Published: April 2008

George Bentham's seven volume Flora australiensis (1863–1879) was the first continental Flora, and for over a century was the only flora treating the whole of Australia. The work was produced with the “assistance” of Ferdinand Mueller, later von Mueller, the Government Botanist of Victoria from 1853, who loaned his collection, group by group, to Kew, enabling Bentham to compare the specimens with those in British and European herbaria. Mueller, who himself had wished to write the Flora, was stimulated to produce descriptions of the species as they were prepared for shipment, and Bentham's timetable strongly structured his publication programme. The limits of taxa recognized by each were similar, although there were often differences in the rank accorded the taxon. The return of Mueller's now authenticated specimens also temporarily transferred the power over Australian plant systematics to Melbourne, a power Mueller later used. Despite his initial disappointment that Bentham was assigned the Australian Flora by William Hooker in the series of colonial Floras, Mueller's association with the project later became a lifeline, helping him keep his self esteem after he was dismissed from his concurrent post as Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens in 1873.
Bibliographic notes on H. Stansbury's Exploration and survey of …/ Expedition to the valley of the Great Salt Lake
Authors: Dorr L. J. , Nicolson D. H. , Overstreet L. K.
Published: April 2008

Howard Stansbury's classic work is bibliographically complex, with two true editions as well as multiple issues of the first edition. The first edition was printed in Philadelphia; its 487 stereotyped pages were issued in 1852 under two different titles with three variant title-pages (an official US government issue and two trade issues). A second edition was printed in Washington in 1853 and had 495 typeset pages (with corrections and additions in the appendices). The issue of 1855 is identical to the 1852 trade issue, except for the change of the date on the title-page. Each issue and edition, with its bindings and plates, is described.
The trilobite from Ohio with preserved legs: 1Mickelborough 1883 and Walcott 1884
Authors: Yochelson Ellis L.
Published: April 2008

ABSTRACT:

Part and counterpart of a trilobite collected from Upper Ordovician strata near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, provided additional information on the legs of trilobites. These appendages had only been certainly known for less than a decade. The specimen was described by a local paleontologist in the local natural history journal, but part of the text was repeated in a leading American biological journal, and repeated in full in the Geological magazine. This trilobite was subsequently redescribed by C. D. Walcott in Science, following a speech in which he discussed it before the Biological Society of Washington. The specimen is now in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
Further additions to the bibliography of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913)
Authors: Smith C. H.
Published: April 2008

ABSTRACT: Twenty-one previously unrecorded published writings by the English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) are noticed. The writings vary greatly in date, size and importance, and include items pertaining both to Wallace's natural history as well as social and political interests.
The hortus siccus (1566) of Petrus Cadé: a description of the oldest known collection of dried plants made in the Low Countries
Authors: Christenhusz Maarten J. M.
Published: April 2008

ABSTRACT: A sixteenth century Dutch hortus siccus of Brabantian origin has been rediscovered and is described here. The plants preserved in it are identified and most of its history is revealed.
A relic of Lucas Barrett's last dive (1862)
Authors: Long Sarah L. , Donovan Stephen K.
Published: April 2008

ABSTRACT: A brachiopod collected by Lucas Barrett (1837–1862), first Director of the first Geological Survey of Jamaica, is a relic of his fatal last dive and was found on his body. Now in The Natural History Museum, London, the shell is one of only two known specimens of the smooth-shelled, micromorphic brachiopod Argyrotheca woodwardiana (Davidson, 1866). Prior to his death Barrett had started collecting the Recent marine fauna around the coast of Jamaica by dredging and latterly by diving. He was interested in comparing the Cenozoic faunas of the island with the Recent fauna. Barrett particularly wanted to date the late Cenozoic deposits of Jamaica by using Lyellian percentages. This shell forms part of the collection that would have contributed to this work. Subsequent research has shown that Argyrotheca would have had little utility in biostratigraphy within the Pleistocene of eastern Jamaica because the only smooth-shelled species from the fossil record of the island are Lower Eocene and Lower Miocene. Despite this it could have contributed relevant palaeoecological data to Barrett's study of the Cenozoic rocks of the island.
The tail of the Jurassic fish Leedsichthys problematicus (Osteichthyes: Actinopterygii) collected by Alfred Nicholson Leeds - an example of the importance of historical records in palaeontology
Authors: Liston J. J. , Noè L. F.
Published: April 2008

The specimen of the tail of Leedsichthys problematicus, now in The Natural History Museum, London, was one of the most spectacular fossil vertebrates from the Oxford Clay Formation of Peterborough, but as an isolated find it shares no bones in common with the holotype of the genus and species. However, a letter from Alfred Nicholson Leeds and related documents cast valuable new light on the excavation of the tail, indicating that it was discovered with cranial bones, gill-rakers, and two pectoral fins, thereby including elements that can potentially be compared with those of the holotype. The documents also clearly indicate that The Natural History Museum's specimen is not part of the same individual as any other numbered specimen of Leedsichthys as had been speculated on other occasions. The maximum size of the animal represented by The Natural History Museum's specimen was possibly around 9 metres, considerably less than previous estimates of up to 27.6 metres for Leedsichthys. Historical documentary evidence should therefore be rigorously checked both when studying historical specimens in science, and in preparing text for museum display labels.
Silvester Diggles (1817–1880), Australian ornithologist
Authors: Pigott Louis J.
Published: April 2008

Silvester Diggles, a gifted natural history artist and amateur naturalist with interests in entomology and ornithology, flourished in Australia in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. He wrote and illustrated (but published only in part) The ornithology of Australia (1865–1870) which appeared not long after John Gould's The birds of Australia (1840–1848). This paper examines Diggles' role as a bird artist, explores his standing as an ornithologist and seeks to unravel some of the complexities of his book in both published and unpublished components.
Alfred Russel Wallace's discovery of “curious horned flies” and the aftermath
Authors: Glaubrecht M. , Kotrba M.
Published: April 2008

This paper describes the discovery, taxonomic history and fate of the original material of so-called antler flies belonging to the genus Phytalmia Gerstaecker, 1860 (Elaphomyia Saunders, 1861). Today, antler flies provide pivotal examples, not only among Diptera, for the phenomenon of sexual selection. They were first collected in 1858 at Dorey (Manokwari) in New Guinea, in a remarkable case of coincidence, by Alfred Russel Wallace, who was also the first to report their curious display behaviour, and by personnel (most likely Hermann von Rosenberg) on the Dutch Etna expedition. These specimens were subsequently distributed to collectors and scientists in Europe by various routes, to be described almost simultaneously by a British and a German entomologist. Our recapitulation of five dispersal routes of the specimens illustrates how new species were quickly and widely distributed among entomologists at that time through sales and exchanges. It reveals how William Wilson Saunders lost priority to his colleague Adolf Gerstaecker, whose types of Phytalmia are extant in the Berlin Museum für Naturkunde. We suggest that the types most probably stem from the Etna expedition and found their way via Amboina in the Moluccas (possibly involving the entomologist Carl Ludwig Doleschall) to Cajetan Felder in Vienna who exchanged them with Gerstaecker in Berlin. They were later mixed with antler flies from Wallace's collection as is evident from comparison of the pins used.
Avian commensals in Colonial America: when did Chaetura pelagica become the chimney swift?
Authors: Graves Gary R.
Published: April 2008

The clearing of primeval forest in eastern North America by European colonists led to a profound shift in the breeding ecology of the chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica). Historical accounts show that the swift, which nested in hollow trees during the pre-Colonial era, began nesting in chimneys as early as 1672 in New England, indicating that it was among the first native North American birds to nest commensally in European dwellings. Based on historical descriptions of nest sites and on changes in its vernacular name, the swift nested almost exclusively in chimneys on the Atlantic coastal plain by the late eighteenth century. Tree-nesting is now a rare phenomenon and fewer than two dozen instances of such behavior have been reported since 1900.
Miles J. Berkeley's lichenological interests
Authors: Hawksworth David L.
Published: April 2008

Berkeley is not generally thought of as a lichenologist, but as befi ts any true mycological polymath he did not pass lichens by. He wrestled with their defi nition and classifi cation, and in the 1850s appreciated that the only difference was what we now know as the algal or cyanobacterial partners - way ahead of his contemporaries and the publication of the ‘dual hypothesis’ in 1868. He was fascinated by the circular growth of lichens and recognized the great age colonies could achieve (foreshadowing the birth of lichenometry), pondered any damaging role they might have to leaves and trees, and was intrigued by the wandering manna lichens (occasioning some challenges to his religious convictions). Further, he was a pioneer in describing novel lichenicolous fungi, including some of the most widespread fungal pathogens of lichens. His views in these areas are compared and contrasted with current knowledge, and the name Dothidea hymeniicola Berk. & Broome is reported as referring to an unrecognized species of Endococcus.
“Humbly dedicated”: Petiver and the audience for natural history in early eighteenth-century Britain
Authors: James K. A.
Published: April 2008

Over the winter and spring of 1713–1714, Dr Patrick Blair (1666–1728) acted as agent for James Petiver (c. 1664–1718) while in Dundee and Edinburgh, promoting the London apothecary's publications on natural history. Blair was successful in attracting a readership for Petiver's works, despite enduring the diffi culty of having to wait for Petiver to act on his promise to supply the publications. Publications - through presentation copies, dedications, or subscriptions - were used as compliments to attract individuals into the network of correspondence and acquaintance by which natural history in early modern Britain was conducted. These dedications also exhibited the readership to itself, acting as a social advertisement for natural history. Blair's endeavours in 1713–1714 offer insight into the role of audience in the practice of natural history in early-modern Britain.
Russian collections in the Sloane Herbarium
Authors: Bryce W. J.
Published: April 2008

A description of the relationship between Sir Hans Sloane and Johann Amman is given, particularly the latter's appointment as Professor of Botany in St Petersburg and their subsequent correspondence. In particular, Amman's description of the flora of Russia as outlined in these letters is examined, that around St Petersburg which he observed personally, that of Bashkiria collected by Heinzelmann, and that of Siberia. The plant specimens sent by Amman which have survived and are now held in the Sloane Herbarium are identified and the circumstances of their acquisition set out. The specimens are divided into two groups. The first is attributed to collections made by Amman himself in the vicinity of St Petersburg, and the second group is attributed to collections made in Siberia and Dauria by D. G. Messerschmidt, and the unique nature of these specimens is set out.
The foundations of Antarctic glaciology
Authors: Cameron Richard L.
Published: April 2008

Heroic treks inland by Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen in the early 1900s demonstrated the immensity of the Antarctic ice cover. But it has taken a century to estimate its volume and elucidate its intricate dynamics. Three significant milestones in the development of Antarctic glaciology have been: the memoir Glaciology by Charles Wright and Raymond Priestly arising from the Terra Nova expedition (1910–1913); the Norwegian-British-Swedish Expedition (1949–1952); the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958). Robert Scott thought glaciology so important he appointed a physicist as glaciologist (Wright) and to work with him, a scientist with previous experience of Antarctic ice (Priestley). Their compendium is a classic work. The Norwegian-British-Swedish Expedition was the first true international scientific expedition to Antarctica. Their studies provided the first clear picture of the Antarctic glacial environment, leading to the concept that sea level is controlled principally by the state of the Antarctic ice sheet. Glaciology was one of the main studies in the International Geophysical Year. Research was conducted at coastal and inland stations and on over-snow traverses. Measurements on traverses provided the first glimpse of the surface elevation, magnitude of the ice volume, snow accumulation, and mean annual surface temperatures.
Aspects of modern Antarctic meteorology and climatology
Authors: Turner John
Published: April 2008

Great advances have been made in recent years in our understanding of the weather of the Antarctic and how the climate of the continent varies on a range of time-scales. The observations from the stations are still the most accurate meteorological measurements that we have, but satellites have been important in providing data for remote parts of the continent and the Southern Ocean. With the large amount of data that is available today weather forecasts are much more accurate than just a few years ago and can provide valuable guidance up to several days ahead over the Southern Ocean and Antarctic coastal region. However, predicting the weather for the interior of the Antarctic is still very difficult. Recent research has shown that the climate of the Antarctic is affected by tropical atmospheric and oceanic climate cycles, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, but the links are complex. The picture of climate change across the Antarctic during the last 50 years is complex, with only the Antarctic Peninsula showing a significant warming. By the end of the twenty-first century near-surface air temperatures across much of the Antarctic continent are expected to increase by several degrees. A small increase in precipitation is also expected.
The bibliography of Robert Edmond Grant (1793–1874): illustrated with a previously unpublished photograph
Authors: Desmond Adrian , Parker Sarah E.
Published: April 2008

The comparative anatomist Robert Edmond Grant (1793–1874), best known for his work on sponges and other marine invertebrates, was important as a teacher and outspoken as a medical reformer. At Edinburgh University his transformist zoology provided the young Charles Darwin with his first theoretical framework. As professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at the newly founded University of London, Grant influenced a new generation of comparative anatomists and medical men, even if his radical science and calls for reform in medical and scientific society made him unpopular with the conservative elite which held sway. In spite of his pivotal position, very little is known about the man. Here we present the most complete bibliography to date, consisting of 128 entries. This list also includes a breakdown of his published lectures.
The myth of Hylas revisited: the frog name Hyla and other commentary on Specimen medicum (1768) of J. N. Laurenti, the “father of herpetology”
Authors: Myers Charles W. , Stothers Richard B.
Published: April 2008

Laurenti's (1768) Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium is the source for the class name Reptilia and for many common genera, including Hyla, whose derivation is given incorrectly in dictionaries and source books. Laurenti explicitly based Hyla on the mythological boy Hylas, quoting Virgil's Eclogues in a long footnote abbreviated from Servius, the fourth-century Latin commentator on Virgil. Laurenti recognized the boy's name as masculine, but unambiguously treated the genus Hyla as feminine – a puzzling transfer of gender allowable by the modern Code of zoological nomenclature. An overview is provided of the taxonomy of Specimen medicum. Most of Laurenti's 28 generic names were obtained from earlier sources, including Linnaean species names, among them Rana hyla. Laurenti saw specimens for nearly a third of 242 included species. Other species, including twelve taxa ostensibly based solely on specimens, came from descriptions and especially illustrations in sixteenth- to eighteenth-century publications. Laurenti's taxonomic sources, variably abbreviated and usually undated, are identified and referenced. Authors have misinterpreted the literature basis for Laurenti's genus Caudiverbera, the type species of which is mythical, belonging neither to the Amphibia nor Reptilia.
Unidirectional hybridization in birds: an historical review of bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) hybrids
Authors: Birkhead T. R. , Balen S. Van
Published: April 2008

Hybridization occurs among many bird species in nature and many more in captivity, and hybridization has important implications for the speciation process. Bird-fanciers have produced hybrids between the canary (Serinus canaria) and various finch species since at least 1600. Some finch species exhibit unidirectional hybridization in which males of species A can successfully hybridize with females of species B, but not vice versa. The bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) is thought to be such a species, with only females capable of producing hybrid offspring with the domesticated canary and other finches. We review historical and more recent records of alleged male Pyrrhula pyrrhula × Serinus canaria hybrids and conclude that there is no convincing evidence of their existence, but there are sufficient independent records to suggest that contrary to what is generally believed, hybrids from a male bullfinch and female canary may occur, albeit extremely rarely. We also suggest ways in which hybrids from a male bullfinch and female canary can be verified in future.
William Huddesford (1732–1772): his role in reanimating the Ashmolean Museum, his collections, researches and support network
Authors: Macgregor Arthur
Published: April 2008

Between 1755 and 1772 the fortunes of the ailing Ashmolean Museum at Oxford were turned round through the efforts of a youthful and industrious keeper, William Huddesford. His modest demeanour, combined with a willingness to seek advice from naturalists more experienced than himself, led Huddesford into lengthy correspondence with a number of influential contemporaries, notably William Borlase, much of which survives to shed light on curatorial preoccupations of the day; so too do the inventories which he compiled, from which information on the network of contributors to the collection can be reconstructed. Huddesford also had an impressive publication record, particularly in bringing into print new editions of works based on specimens that had come to form part of the Ashmolean's collections, including Martin Lister's Historia conchyliorum and Edward Lhwyd's Lithophylacii britannici ichnographia. Documentation survives for all of these exercises, and combines to provide important insights into eighteenth-century museum practice.
Granny (c. 1821–1887), “a zoological celebrity”
Authors: Swinney Geoffrey N.
Published: April 2008

A biography of a celebrated sea-anemone (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) is recounted. The history of the specimen, from its collection by John Graham Dalyell to its death in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, is presented in the social and political context of the period.
Samuel Tufts, Jr. (1817–1902), a Massachusetts shell collector and aquarium stocker
Authors: Burchsted J. C. A. , Burchsted Fred
Published: April 2008

This paper documents the life of Samuel Tufts, Jr. (1817–1902), a Massachusetts shell collector and aquarium stocker. Tufts spent most of his life as a shoemaker and proprietor of express and furniture moving businesses. During the 1850s, he lived in Swampscott and Lynn, Massachusetts, adjacent seacoast communities, and there collected shells and conducted an aquarium stocking business. He published a list of local shells and donated specimens to the Essex Institute of Salem, Massachusetts. Tufts was a friend of the marine zoologist William Stimpson. His procedures for shipping live marine specimens were described in Robert Carter's A summer cruise on the coast of New England, an account of an 1858 cruise by Carter, Stimpson and others. Tuft's natural history activities seem to have ended when he relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, around 1860. Tufts is the only American aquarium stocker of this era whose methods have been recorded. His observations were published locally but were conveyed to the wider natural history community through publications of more prominent naturalists including William Greene Binney, Augustus Addison Gould and William Stimpson.