The Publications and Malacological Taxa of William Wood (1774–1857) Author(s) :Eugene V. Coan & Richard E. Petit Source: Malacologia, 54(2):1-76. 2011. Published By: Institute of Malacology URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.4002/040.054.0109 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. 0$/$&2/2*,$ 2): 176 THE PUBLICATIONS AND MALACOLOGICAL TAXA OF WILLIAM WOOD (1774–1857) Eugene V. CoanI* & Richard E. PetitII ABSTRACT William Wood (1774–1857), trained as a physician, soon turned his attention to natural history book publication and sales. Working in London, his chief malacological publications were the General conchology (1814–1815; reprinted in 1835), two editions of the Index tes- taceologicus (1818, 1823–1825; the latter reprinted in 1828), and a Supplement (1828) to the IndexFRQWDLQLQJPDQ\QHZVSHFLHV+HPDGHDYDLODEOHVSHFL¿FQDPHVRIZKLFK are now considered valid. Type lots of many of his species are present in The Natural History Museum, London, some newly located during the present study. Key words: William Wood, John Edward Gray, taxonomy, biography, bibliography. INTRODUCTION 1RYHPEHU10DU\+DOVQRG:RRG ± 1874), the eldest child of William and Juliana The purpose of this paper is to provide a :RRGZDVERUQRQ'HFHPEHU7KHLU biography, a complete bibiliography, and list VRQ*HRUJHZDVERUQRQ2FWREHUDQG of taxa of the early British malacologist William :LOOLDP-URQ6HSWHPEHU Wood. We have relied on published sources, By this time, William’s interests increasingly examination of several copies of his major turned to natural history, and he traveled to works, assistance of a biographical researcher London to attend meetings of the Linnean So- in England, and a two-week search by one of ciety2. He was elected a Fellow of that society us (EVC) for unrecognized type material in The RQ0DUFKWKHSURSRVHUVQRWLQJKLV Natural History Museum, London. In our treat- QDWXUDOKLVWRU\VWXGLHV+LV¿UVWZRUNDQGRQO\ ment, we use these abbreviations: NHMUK, paper was on the hinges of bivalves, read to the collections of The Natural History Museum, WKH/LQQHDQ6RFLHW\RQ-DQXDU\DQG London, U.K. [shown in Wood’s works as SXEOLVKHG WKH IROORZLQJ \HDU :RRG “Br.M.”]; ICZN, the International Commission 7KLV ZDV WKH ¿UVW GHWDLOHG WUHDWPHQW RI WKH on Zoological Nomenclature. subject, the hinge teeth being indicated by OHWWHUV GH¿QHG RQ WKH SODWH H[SODQDWLRQ +H introduced one new species, Mactra alba, BIOGRAPHY now Abra alba ::RRG 7KH¿JXUHV William Wood (22 Feb. 1774–28 May 1857) was born in Kendal, a market town in northwestern 1Name rendered as Julianna on some census and probate - forms and in some genealogical records as “Elizabeth Juli- (QJODQGDERXWNPQRUWKQRUWKZHVWRI/RQ ana”. This last this is the result of error, as she is referred to don. He was baptized on March 16 in the parish in her mother’s will simply as Juliana Wood, and her sister of Lowther. The son of John and Frances Wood, was referred to as Elizabeth Shaw in that will. Her sister, nothing is known about his early life. He studied (OL]DEHWK +HVWHU :KLW¿HOG PDUULHG D FRXVLQ WKH QRWHG medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London architect John Shaw. under John Abernethy (1763–1831), who was 2The inconsistent spellings “Linnaean” and “Linnean” arise noted for an interest in the effect of vegetarianism from the selective use of the name of the founder of the on disease. Wood then began medical practice at system of nomenclature, Linnaeus or von Linné. The spelling “Linnean” was in common use in England in Wood’s time, :LQJKDPDERXWNPHDVWRI&DQWHUEXU\ as shown by the naming of the Linnean Society. In citing While in Wingham, Wood married Juliana others, their usage is maintained. In our own statements, :KLW¿HOG 0D\±$SULO RQ “Linnaean” is used. I 5HVHDUFK$VVRFLDWH 6DQWD %DUEDUD 0XVHXP RI 1DWXUDO +LVWRU\ 3XHVWD GHO 6RO 5RDG 6DQWD %DUEDUD &DOLIRUQLD 86$ II6W&KDUOHV5RDG1RUWK0\UWOH%HDFK6RXWK&DUROLQD86$ *Corresponding author: [email protected] 1 2 COAN & PETIT in this article were prepared by Henry Boys By 1816, Wood moved his publications busi- (1775–1868), son of the malacologist William ness to 428 The Strand4, in London’s Covent %R\V ± ZKRVH FROOHFWLRQ :RRG Garden district, home of many book publish- acknowledged3 (Fig. 1). ers and dealers. He seems to have become a ,QDERXW:RRGPRYHGWR/RQGRQKLV partner with Richard Floyer, who had run the ¿UVW DGGUHVV EHLQJ RQ 1RUWK$XGOH\ 6WUHHW ¿UPIURPXQWLOWKHQ7KH¿UPLVOLVWHGLQ number unknown, just west of Hyde Park city directories as Floyer & Wood from 1816 'DYLV to 1817, then as Wood & Floyer from 1817 to ,Q :LOOLDP :RRG SURGXFHG D WKUHH %\WKH¿UPZDVLQ:LOOLDP:RRG¶V volume natural history, Zoography; or, the name alone5. beauties of nature displayed, with illustrations The next Wood work to appear was his Index E\:LOOLDP'DQLHOO ± IDWKHURI5RVH testaceologicus (1818). His goal with the Index and Emma Daniell, who are discussed below. was to list previously named mollusks, with cita- 7KH¿UVWYROXPHZDVGHYRWHGWRPDPPDOVDQG WLRQVWRSXEOLVKHG¿JXUHVDQGRQO\RQHRUWZR birds, the second to an array of other verte- images for each genus by Wood himself were brates and invertebrates, and the last to plants. provided. No descriptions were included. The only mollusks treated, in volume 2, were His next production was a two-volume Il- the bivalve genera Pholas and Solen, and the lustrations of the Linnaean genera of insects cephalopod genus Argonauta. (Wood, 1821). The Preface to Zoography is signed W. Wood, IQ:RRGLVVXHGWKH¿UVWSDUWRIDVHF- 7LWFK¿HOG6WUHHW1RY7KLVLVQRZ*UHDW ond edition of his Index testaceologicus, com- 7LWFK¿HOG6WQXPEHUXQNQRZQDIHZEORFNV pleted by a second part two years later (Wood, northeast of his North Audley street address. ± 7KLVZDVWKH¿UVWSRVW/LQQDHDQ (OL]DEHWK:KLW¿HOG-XOLDQD¶VPRWKHUZDVOLYLQJ binominal effort to offer illustrations of almost ZLWKWKH:RRGVDW7LWFK¿HOG6W/RQGRQZKHQ all of the known species of mollusks. A second she died in 1812. printing, differing in minor details from the origi- He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society nal, appeared in 1828 (Wood, 1828a), along LQQRGRXEWLQÀXHQFHGE\KLVSXEOLFDWLRQ with the far more important Supplement (Wood, WKDW \HDU RI D YROXPH XSGDWHG HGLWLRQ RI 1828b), which is discussed in detail below. Smellie’s translation of Buffon’s Natural His- In the meanwhile, because he also sold natu- WRU\ :RRG LOOXVWUDWHGZLWKSODWHV ral history books, he produced a sales catalogue DQGDOPRVWSDJHVFRYHULQJJHRJUDSK\ organized by taxonomic group (Wood, 1824). mammals, and birds. Smellie’s translation, A much enlarged version of this catalogue ap- which had gone through three editions, was a peared eight years later (Wood, 1832). Each PHUHQLQHYROXPHV 6PHOOLH± contained the same plate of mollusks, without 7KH¿UVWWHQYROXPHVRI:RRG¶VYHUVLRQ captions, lifted from his (1823–1825) Index, the of Buffon were printed by a Charles Wood of 1832 version having additional natural history 13 Pippin’s Court, London, but he appears to SODWHV$FFRUGLQJWR6ZDLQVRQ KH be no relation. was “the most learned bookseller in London for It comes as little surprise that by 1814, at the works connected with natural history”. Among DJHRIKHKDGDEDQGRQHGPHGLFLQHDQG WKHZRUNVSURGXFHGE\:RRG¶V¿UPZDVWKH taken up the profession of bookseller and pub- ¿UVWHGLWLRQRI6ZDLQVRQ¶VExotic conchology lisher. Over the next two years, Wood produced (Swainson, 1821–1822) and his The natural- KLV¿UVWVLJQL¿FDQWPDODFRORJLFDOERRNGeneral ist’s guide (1822). conchology, its Advertisement (p. iv) indicat- ,Q :RRG SXEOLVKHG D SDJH SDP- ing the Tichfield St. address. The General phlet that organized the species of the Index conchologyZDVLQWHQGHGWREHWKH¿UVWRIWZR and SupplementLQSODWHDQG¿JXUHVHTXHQFH or more volumes on mollusks, but the project :RRG D ZLWK WKH /DPDUFNLDQ JHQHUD was superceded by his Index testaceologicus, LQGLFDWHGIRUHDFK 5H\QHOO which was less expensive to produce. His next work, issued that same year (Wood, E ZDV D UHSULQW RI WKH SODWHV IURP 3The Boys collection was acquired by George Montagu 4 (1753–1815), but none of his material has been recognized This building has since been replaced by another, more in the British Museum (Natural History) or the Exeter Mu- modern one. seum where parts of the the Montagu collection now reside 51RWWREHFRQIXVHGZLWKDSUROL¿F1HZ<RUN&LW\SXEOLVKHURI 'DQFH the same name who specialized in medical text books. PUBLICATIONS AND TAXA OF WILLIAM WOOD 3 ),*3ODWHIURP:RRG VKRZLQJKLQJHIHDWXUHVRIHLJKWELYDOYHVSHFLHV 4 COAN & PETIT FIG. 2. Memorial plaque to Juliana and William Wood, St. Martin’s, Ruislip, England. Brander’s Fossilia Hantoniensia (Brander, Ruislip (pronounced “rice-lip”), 23 km northwest 1766), providing supplemental references from of central London, where