1642 Coan Final.Indd

See discussions, stats, and author proﬁles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256454741 THE MALACOLOGICAL WORKS AND TAXA OF SYLVANUS HANLEY (1819-1899) Article in Malacologia · December 2012 CITATIONS READS 7 466 2 authors: Eugene Victor Coan Alan R Kabat Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Harvard University 178 PUBLICATIONS 1,464 CITATIONS 30 PUBLICATIONS 326 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Marine Bivalve Mollusks of Western South America View project All content following this page was uploaded by Eugene Victor Coan on 05 June 2014. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded ﬁle. MALACOLOGIA, 2012, 55(2): 285-359 THE MALACOLOGICAL WORKS AND TAXA OF SYLVANUS HANLEY (1819-1899) Eugene V. Coan1* & Alan R. Kabat2 ABSTRACT The malacological works of Sylvanus Hanley (and his relative Charles Thorpe) are discussed and their dates in some cases clarified. The taxa that first appear in these works are listed, their type specimens noted when known, and the current status of the available taxa discussed. Of the 375 species-group names that first appear in these works, 367 are available, and 8 arenomina nuda. Of the 367 available species-group taxa, approximately 219 are now considered valid. Ap- proximately 60% of the available species are represented by type material, mainly in the Natural History Museum in London and in the Leeds City Museum in Leeds, U.K. Hanley also described several genus-group and family-group names, some of which are still considered valid. Key words: Sylvanus Hanley, Charles Thorpe, bibliography, taxonomy. INTRODUCTION to Hanley’s publications and taxa. To ensure that our coverage of Hanley’s taxa was as thorough A decade ago, Norris & Dance (2002) au- as possible, we reviewed all the taxa attributed thored a biography of Sylvanus Hanley, a sig- to him or to Charles Thorpe in the online, search- nificant British malacologist who published from able versions of Sherborn (1922–1933), Neave the 1840s to the 1880s. He was particularly et al. (1939–1996) and Ruhoff (1980). One of noted for his contributions on the Bivalvia and us (Kabat) spent one week at the Natural His- on the non-marine fauna of India and adjacent tory Museum of the United Kingdom (London) regions. In a review of that paper (Coan & (25–29 June 2012) and two days at the Leeds Kabat, 2002), we noted that this otherwise ex- City Museum (2–3 July 2012), reviewing Hanley cellent biography also included a bibliography type specimens, both those already catalogued of Hanley’s papers and books that had some as types and those hitherto unrecognized in the dating errors, as did its list of Hanley’s species, general collection. The Hanley type material which omitted a number of taxa. in London has been frequently studied by the In 2002, we intended to prepare an improved curatorial staff and outside researchers over bibliography and a more complete, analytical the past five decades. In contrast, the Hanley list of Hanley’s taxa and type material. Howev- type material in Leeds has been only partially er, the press of other projects and the difficulty curated and remains largely overlooked by of access to some scarce literature postponed outside researchers. that project. Now that almost all of Hanley’s The measurements of type specimens, when works and more of the relevant secondary given herein, were made with digital (electronic) literature are available online, primarily in the calipers. The measurements of gastropods Biodiversity Heritage Library, we have returned are height (parallel to the shell axis) and width to that project, resulting in the present paper. (perpendicular to the shell axis, at the widest part of the aperture), except for the one low- spired Haliotis, for which the length and width MATERIALS AND METHODS are given. The measurements of bivalves are length (parallel to the hinge line) and height We reviewed all of Hanley’s publications, (perpendicular to the length and running indexed the new taxa, and reviewed the second- through the uppermost point of the hinge line). ary literature to identify subsequent references For most bivalves, the length corresponds to 1Research Associate, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, California 93105-2936, U.S.A. 2Research Associate, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, U.S.A. *Corresponding author: [email protected] 285 286 COAN & KABAT the maximum dimension; for some bivalves a glossary and index. Tomlin (1945: 91) briefly with trapezoidal shapes or otherwise diagonally discussed these editions. Hanley (1842: 154) elongated valves, the length may be slightly stated that the “localities and authorities [in shorter (by 5% to 10%) than the maximum the index] are chiefly extracted from Dr. Jay’s dimension. Catalogue,” referring to the Catalogue of Re- cent Shells by John C. Jay (1808–1891), which Hanley’s Life and Malacological Research went through three editions in the 1830s (for example, Jay, 1836). Hanley was born in 1819 in Oxford and Hanley’s second book was the “second” (ac- studied at Oxford University, obtaining a B. A. tually third) edition of William Swainson’s Exotic degree in 1841. He soon inherited sufficient conchology (Hanley, 1841). Hanley’s edition funds from his father, so that he did not have has little scientific value and has only one new to work for a living, and devoted the rest of his taxon, Cochlycopa, in the Volutidae. Hanley long life (he died at age 80 in Penzance, Corn- (1841: 4) explained that: “Mr. Swainson on wall) to the study of mollusks. Adrian Norris has quitting England [for New Zealand] having left maintained an interest in Hanley and his family, this beautiful work in an unfinished condition, and he intends to publish more on that subject to me has been committed the task of reduc- (A. Norris, pers. comm., 15 November 2011). ing the whole into systematic arrangement, of Hanley was a contemporary of the shell drawing up descriptions of species, and add- collector Hugh Cuming (1791–1865), and ing such synonyms as … require[d].” Abbott described many species from the Cuming col- (1968: xxiv), in reprinting this work, noted that: lection, as did his fellow conchologists Lovell “An examination of several copies of Hanley’s Reeve (1814–1865), George Brettingham Sow- edition indicates that he probably had left-over erby I (1788–1854), and George Brettingham copies of some of Swainson’s 1834 plates. Both Sowerby II (1812–1884). For many of his new Swainson’s and Hanley’s editions were hand- species (other than the Tellinidae, as noted painted over the lithographed line drawings, so below), Hanley was comparable to Reeve and that no two copies were identical.” Concern- the Sowerbys when it came to describing new ing Swainson’s two editions, see Sherborn & species – all four did not hesitate to describe Reynell (1915) and McMillan (1963). as new species what are now considered to Hanley then focused his attention on the be morphological or color forms of previously Bivalvia, publishing the first edition (or ver- described taxa, because they did not recognize sion) of his Illustrated, enlarged and English the significance of variation within a species. edition of Lamarck’s species of shells (Hanley, Hanley also described a number of “varieties” 1842–1843), which, despite its title, was limited (equivalent to subspecies), most also based on to the Bivalvia. Evidently not satisfied with this unique specimens and mere color forms. Nor work, in 1843, Hanley reissued it with some ad- did Hanley and his contemporaries refrain from ditional text and plates, under a slightly revised describing new species based on material from title, An Illustrated and descriptive catalogue unknown or uncertain localities, or based upon of Recent shells (Hanley, 1842–1846). Hanley unique specimens. When it came to molluscan then reissued it yet again in 1856, with further genera, they preferred to use the Lamarckian new text and plates, under yet a third title, An genera in their broadest sense, with all the illustrated and descriptive catalogue of Recent species in any given family being assigned a bivalve shells (Hanley, 1842–1856). We discuss single genus. the problems in dating these publications in the Hanley’s first book, at the age of 21 and while next section, but they are of great significance still in college, was the appropriately titled The in containing the descriptions and illustrations of young conchologist’s book of species (Hanley, many new species, as well as re-descriptions of 1840), which had descriptions of some 600 those of earlier authors. It must be emphasized species, three newly described by Hanley, all that – in contrast to most of Hanley’s illustrated now synonymized. This book soon went into a publications, in which the specimens are usually second edition (Hanley, 1842a), which included illustrated at life-size – these books on bivalves → FIG. 1. Plate 2 from An illustrated, enlarged, and English edition of Lamarck’s species of shells (Han- ley, 1842-1843). Note that the specimens are all printed at the same size, regardless of their original dimensions. Plates 1-3 of the first edition were not reprinted in the later editions or versions. HANLEY’S WORKS AND TAXA 287 288 COAN & KABAT FIG. 2. Title page, The Photographic Conchology (Hanley, 1863). The first book to use photography for illustrating mollusks, with all the black-and-white photographs completely overpainted in color. Thus, nothing remains visible of the original photograph except for the outline of the shells. HANLEY’S WORKS AND TAXA 289 have all the illustrated specimens enlarged those of Melo, Pandora, and Amphidesma) or reduced to approximately the same size.

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