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Report on the Linnaean shell collection

1967; Oxford University Press; Volume: 178; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1095-8312.1967.tb00959.x

1747-2741

Stanley Peter Dance,

Marine Biology and Ecology Research

The molluscan species described by Linnaeus exceed 800 in number, most of them common and widespread; but changing species concepts necessitate a re-evalution of the status of many of them and this cannot be done satisfactorily without reference to the Linnaean shell collection. Since Linnaeus's death, however, that collection has been mishandled and adulterated to such an extent that its value to the systematist has been seriously diminished. It is more than a century since the collecton was studied in its entirety and the publication resulting from that study, Hanley's Ipsa Linnaei Conchylia (1855), is almost unobtainable and, in some respects, is unreliable. A re-appraisal of the Linnaean shells has been, therefore, long overdue. Part I of the present report outlines the history of the collection from its origins up to the twentieth century, reviews past work on it and describes its appearance. The significance of markings on shells and the metal receptacles in which they were placed originally is assessed; and the need for caution when designating types from the collection is emphasized. Part II is devoted to matter ancillary to that in Part I. Copies of the Systema Naturae once owned by Linnaeus and his son are discussed and the importance of the annotations in them investigated. Some of the books utilized by Linnaeus and cited by him in the Systema are listed and those in his own library which he annotated are mentioned. His association with Queen Louisa Ulrica and the descriptive account of her shells published in his Museum Ulricae are surveyed briefly. Finally, to help decide the provenance of some of his shells, an annotated list of persons who gave him shells or information on them is appended. The Appendix comprises a list of all the species absent from the collection which were described in the ‘Vermes Testacea’ portion of the Systema Naturae and the ‘Regni Animalis Appendix‘ of the Mantissa Plantarum.