This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

The Field Museum’s Marie Louise Rosenthal Library is fortunate to have a small fund dedicated to the purchase of rare books. As a result, Library staff are often on the lookout for titles that fall within our natural history collecting scope while also meeting the criteria of being both historically valuable and scientifically significant.

In March, I came across an interesting zoological title for sale: Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte, a three-volume work on biogeography published between 1778 and 1783 by Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann, a German geographer, zoologist, and mathematician. The work also includes a fold-out map, Tabula Mundi Geographico Zoologica sistens Quadrupedes hucusque notos sedibus suis adscriptos edidit, which has been described as the first world map of zoological geography, illustrating late-eighteenth-century understandings of the global distribution of mammals.

Before purchasing a title for the rare book collection, I evaluate whether it fits the Library’s collecting scope, whether it is scientifically valuable, which institutions hold copies, and whether a digital version is already available in BHL. As I looked into Geographische Geschichte des Menschen und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, I learned that Zimmermann had published an earlier edition in Latin in 1777 under a different title: Specimen zoologiae geographicae, quadrupedum domicilia et migrationes sistens, which is available in BHL.

A subsequent search led me to another BHL resource: Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1954). In Opinion 257, the Commission rejected Specimen zoologiae geographicae, quadrupedum domicilia et migrationes sistens for “nomenclatorial purposes.” In short, the 1777 edition did not satisfy the requirements of Article 25 of the Règles internationales de la nomenclature zoologique, the predecessor of today’s International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The work was consequently placed on the “Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Works in Zoological Nomenclature.”

The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature’s 1954 opinion rejecting E.A.W. Zimmermann’s Specimen zoologiae geographicae, quadrupedum domicilia et migrationes sistens (1777) and accepting his later work Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte (1778–1783).

Even more interestingly, further reading revealed that this opinion had a connection to the Field Museum. The Commission’s ruling stemmed in part from correspondence between Francis Hemming, Secretary of the Commission, and Wilfred H. Osgood of the Field Museum, who advocated for the recognition of Geographische Geschichte. Hemming also consulted Philip Hershkovitz, then Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum, who supported Osgood’s position. (This correspondence is summarized in the published statement of the case.)

Fortunately, the Commission confirmed that binomial nomenclature was applied in Zimmermann’s later publication, and therefore declared Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte to be included on the “Official List of Works Approved as Available for Zoological Nomenclature.”

It is clear that Zimmermann greatly revised and improved his work in the German edition. Notably, Geographische Geschichte debuted several binomial names that are still attributed to Zimmermann, including Cervus muntjak, Lutra minima (known today as Chironectes minimus), and Canis zerda (known today as Vulpes zerda).

In his 1777 edition, Zimmermann failed to consistently apply binomial nomenclature, instead using a combination of generic or descriptive names. For example, in Specimen zoologiae geographicae, Zimmermann refers to a species of dormouse as Glis seu Rattus somnolentus (Left). However, in volume 2 (1780) of Geographische Geschichte, Zimmermann uses the binomial Myoxus glis (right). Today, the species is known as Glis glis.

In addition to the improved nomenclature, Geographische Geschichte also features an updated version of the Tabula mundi geographico zoologica, which incorporates new geographical information derived largely from recent travelers’ reports, including those from Captain James Cook and his crew. For example, the 1783 map reflects Cook’s “discovery” of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and provides a more complete rendering of the western coast of North America. The Seychelles is also named east of mainland Africa, where the French established their colonial settlement just thirteen years prior.

On the fold-out map, names of quadrupeds are plotted directly onto their geographic ranges. Zimmermann’s use of nomenclature varies here. In some instances, he uses the genus alone; in others, the species epithet or full binomen; and, occasionally, a common name. Castor (beaver), for example, appears across northern North America, as does Bison; Tigris (tiger) can be found in Asia; and Kanguro (kangaroo) appears in New Holland (Australia), where the animal was first recorded for European science by Daniel Solander, a botanist aboard Cook’s ship, the HMS Endeavour.

Tabula mundi geographico zoologica sistens quadrupedes(1783) from Zimmermann, Eberhard August Wilhelm von. 1778. Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüssigen Thiere : nebst einer hieher gehörigen zoologischen Weltcharte. Leipzig: In der Weygandschen Buchhandlung. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/221536.

Finding the work to be historically important to mammalian biogeography, not widely held nor digitized in BHL, and connected to the Field Museum through its role in securing the work’s recognition for zoological nomenclature, I considered this acquisition an obvious choice.

I’m happy to report that Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüßigen Thiere, nebst einer hieher gehörigen Zoologischen Weltcharte is now available in BHL. Having access to both this three-volume edition and the rejected 1777 title, alongside the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature’s ruling, provides a compelling case study in the development of zoological nomenclature, the changing standards by which scientific works are evaluated, and the ways in which new evidence can reshape our understanding of the natural world. As the 1954 ICZN opinion suggests, a work published in the 18th century can continue to have a life in the scientific record and be actively reassessed centuries later.

Further reading

In addition to the sources linked above, I also referred to the following:

Allen, J. A. (1902). Zimmermann’s ‘Zoologiae Geographicae’ and ‘Geographische Geschichte’ considered in relation to their zoological nomenclature. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 16, 13–22. https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/items/22a3b549-b2a3-4e28-b2aa-7758c85641fe

American Society of Mammalogists. (n.d.). Glis glis (Linnaeus, 1766): European fat dormouse. Mammal Diversity Database. https://www.mammaldiversity.org/taxon/1001506

Delaney, J. (2012). First X, then Y, now Z: Landmark thematic maps. Princeton University Library. https://static-prod.lib.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/thematic-maps/contents.html

Lotzof, K. (n.d.). Endeavour 250: Natural history through colonial encounter. Natural History Museum. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/hms-endeavour-250.html

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

For 20 years, BHL has helped bring works like Zimmermann’s out of rare book collections and into the hands of researchers and readers around the world. With your support, we can continue to preserve, connect, and provide open access to the scientific record – including works whose significance is still being rediscovered centuries later.

Leer en español

A view of the Panamanian tropical rainforest in Colón Province. Photo by Samanta Orellana.

In the last decades of the 19th century, a monumental publication on the biodiversity of Mexico and Central America began publication—Biologia Centrali-Americana. Published in 215 parts from 1879 to 1915 by the editors Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, the work describes over 50,000 species and is illustrated with over 1,600 lithographic plates depicting over 18,000 species. Remarkable for its time, the title is still vitally important for the study of Neotropical biodiversity today, as it contained virtually all known information at the time about Mexican and Central American flora and fauna.

Biologia Centrali-Americana is a particularly important resource for entomologist Samanta Orellana, a PhD student in evolutionary biology at the Dr. Nico Franz Lab of Arizona State University (ASU) and a research assistant in the ASU Biocollections of the Biodiversity Knowledge Integration Center. Orellana began studying insects and working with entomological collections more than a decade ago, during her undergraduate studies in her home country of Guatemala.

“For many insect groups in Guatemala and the rest of Central America, Biologia Centrali-Americana still represents the only source of information available for the region,” states Orellana.

Samanta Orellana in the Arizona State University Biocollections. Photo by Kevin Cortés.

Biologia Centrali-Americana is also meaningful to Orellana because it led her to the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). In 2010, whilst identifying Guatemalan insects as part of her undergraduate studies, Orellana started using the “Electronic Biologia Centrali-Americana,” available from the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, which directed her to BHL. She hasn’t stopped using BHL since.

“BHL is simply wonderful,” lauds Orellana. “I think it is an amazing tool for entomologists all around the world, especially for those of us who work or have worked in collections in developing countries, usually without access to specialized libraries or journals, but with a lot of material to identify.”

One of the plates of Central American anthribids, included in the chapter written by Karl Jordan in the Biologia Centrali-Americana (Insecta. Coleoptera. v.4, pt.6, 1895-1907). Contributed in BHL from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.

Orellana specializes in the family Anthribidae (Coleoptera), commonly known as fungus weevils. Her research on these insects began during her studies at the Universidad de Panamá, where she completed an M.Sc. in entomology, and continues through her PhD work, with her dissertation focused on the family’s diversity and evolution. As part of this research, Orellana recently published a catalogue of the Anthribidae species from Panama.

BHL’s collections have been instrumental in enabling Orellana to pursue her work on the family.

“BHL was essential to complete my first published work on Anthribidae, a catalogue of the species from Panama,” shares Orellana. “This group of weevils has been poorly studied in the Neotropics, so identifying specimens is always challenging due to the lack of taxonomic keys. I had to rely mostly on original descriptions available through BHL to identify the specimens I examined, both in Panamanian and American collections. The catalogue ended up with 44 new records for the country, most of them identified thanks to the literature available in BHL.”

Eugonus robustus Jordan, 1904 (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), from Panama. Photo by Samanta Orellana.

BHL has now become a core part of Orellana’s research process. She uses the Library at least several times a week, reading content online or downloading material via BHL’s custom PDF generator to build her own local collection of Anthribidae literature. Her favorite feature is BHL’s full text search service, which allows her to easily find scientific names or specific localities within sources.

“I use BHL all the time,” affirms Orellana. “I continue using it for my PhD studies to identify collection specimens, as taxonomy is an important component of my research with this group of weevils. I also maintain a website in Spanish about insects of Guatemala and constantly consult BHL to obtain and share information about the diversity of this group in my country.”

When asked what improvements she would like to see in BHL, Orellana replies, “This is a difficult question, because I love BHL so much. There is nothing I can think of that I would change. I can always find what I am looking for with the features already included on the website.”

Orellana’s experience testifies to the importance of open access for scientific research, whether you are a researcher working with limited resources or even if you have the benefit of a large, institutional library. For researchers everywhere, BHL’s collections offer free, easy access to centuries of scientific literature and sources that may otherwise have been inaccessible.

“Even now that I am working at a larger collection, and I have access to specialized literature, there are older works that can only be obtained through BHL,” confirms Orellana.

We are proud to know that BHL is empowering biodiversity research globally. As we face unprecedented biodiversity declines—with more than a million species threatened with extinction—immediate, online access to essential literature is ever-more important, allowing scientists to conduct research more quickly and efficiently and improving our ability to respond to today’s biodiversity crisis. We look forward to continuing to work with our global community of partners to ensure that researchers like Samanta Orellana have the resources they need to study and conserve biodiversity, from the smallest weevil to the largest sequoia and everything in between.

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Biodiversidad Oculta: Explorando los Gorgojos Neotropicales con la ayuda de BHL

Una vista del bosque tropical de Panamá en la Provincia de Colón. Fotografía por Samanta Orellana.

En las últimas décadas del siglo XIX, una publicación monumental acerca de la biodiversidad de México y Centroamérica inició su difusión –la Biología Centrali-Americana. Publicada en 215 partes de 1879 a 1915, por los editores Frederick DuCane Godman y Osbert Salvin, el trabajo describe más de 50,000 especies y está ilustrada con más de 1,600 láminas litográficas que contienen más de 18,000 especies. Muy notoria en su tiempo, la obra aún es sumamente importante para el estudio de la biodiversidad neotropical en la actualidad, ya que contiene prácticamente toda la información conocida, hasta el momento, acerca de la flora y fauna de México y Centroamérica.

La Biologia Centrali-Americana es un recurso particularmente importante para la entomóloga Samanta Orellana, estudiante de Doctorado en Biología Evolutiva, en el laboratorio del Dr. Nico Franz, en Arizona State University (ASU) y asistente de investigación en las Colecciones Biológicas del Centro de Integración para el Conocimiento de la Biodiversidad en ASU. Orellana empezó a estudiar insectos y a trabajar en colecciones entomológicas hace más de una década, durante sus estudios de pregrado en su país natal, Guatemala.

“Para muchos grupos de insectos de Guatemala y el resto de Centroamérica, la Biología Centrali-Americana aún representa la única fuente de información disponible en la región”, asegura Orellana.

Samanta Orellana en las Colecciones Biológicas de Arizona State University. Fotografía por Kevin Cortés.

La Biologia Centrali-Americana también es importante para Orellana, ya que la llevó a descubrirBiodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), que en español podría denominarse como “Biblioteca del Patrimonio de Biodiversidad”. En 2010, mientras identificaba insectos de Guatemala, como parte de sus estudios de pregrado, Orellana empezó a utilizar la versión electrónica de la Biología Centrali-Americana,disponible en el sitio de las Bibliotecas y Archivos del Instituto Smithsonian, lo cual la dirigió hacia BHL, y no ha dejado de usarla desde entonces.

“BHL es simplemente maravillosa”, asegura Orellana. “Pienso que es una herramienta increíble para los entomólogos alrededor del mundo, especialmente para aquellos que trabajamos en colecciones de países en vías de desarrollo, usualmente sin acceso a bibliotecas o revistas especializadas, pero con mucho material por identificar”.

Una de las láminas de antríbidos de Centroamérica, incluidas en el capítulo escrito por Karl Jordan en la Biología Centrali-Americana (Insecta. Coleoptera. v.4, pt.6, 1895-1907). Compartido en BHL por las Bibliotecas y Archivos del Instituto Smithsonian.

Orellana se especializa en la familia Anthribidae (Coleoptera), comúnmente conocidos como “gorgojos de los hongos”. Sus investigaciones con estos insectos iniciaron durante sus estudios en la Universidad de Panamá, donde completó su maestría en entomología, y continúan durante su doctorado, con su tesis enfocada en la diversidad y evolución de la familia. Como parte de su investigación, Orellana recientemente publicó un catálogo de las especies de Anthribidae de Panamá.

Las colecciones de literatura de BHL han sido indispensables para permitir que Orellana trabaje con esta familia.

“BHL fue esencial para completar mi primer trabajo publicado acerca de Anthribidae, un catálogo de especies de Panamá”, comparte Orellana. “Este grupo de gorgojos ha sido pobremente estudiado en la región Neotropical, por lo que identificar las especies siempre es un reto debido a la falta de claves taxonómicas. Yo tuve que basarme mayormente en descripciones originales, disponibles en BHL, para identificar las especies que estudié, tanto en colecciones panameñas como norteamericanas. El catálogo finalizó 44 nuevos registros para el país, muchos de los cuales fue posible identificar gracias a la literatura disponible en BHL.”

Eugonus robustus Jordan, 1904 (Coleoptera: Anthribidae), de Panamá. Fotografía por Samanta Orellana.

BHL se ha vuelto una parte esencial en el proceso de investigación de Orellana, ya que utiliza este recurso al menos varias veces por semana, leyendo el contenido en línea o descargando material, por medio del generador de archivos PDF de BHL, para construir su propia colección de literatura de Anthribidae. Su característica favorita de BHL es el servicio de búsqueda de texto, que le permite encontrar nombres científicos y localidades de una manera fácil dentro de los archivos disponibles.

“Uso BHL todo el tiempo”, afirma Orellana. “Durante mis estudios de doctorado, uso BHL constantemente para identificar especímenes de colecciones, ya que la taxonomía es un componente importante de mi investigación con este grupo de gorgojos. Como una actividad adicional, administro un sitio web enfocado en insectos de Guatemala, y consulto BHL constantemente para obtener y compartir información acerca de la diversidad de este grupo en mi país.”

Al consultarle acerca de las mejoras que le gustaría ver en BHL, Orellana responde, “Esta es una pregunta difícil, porque BHL me gusta demasiado. No puedo pensar en nada que me gustaría cambiar. Siempre puedo encontrar lo que estoy buscando con las características ya incluidas en el sitio web”.

Las experiencias de Orellana son un testimonio de la importancia de libre acceso a las investigaciones científicas, así sea para científicos trabajando con recursos limitados, o para aquellos que cuentan con acceso a bibliotecas institucionales. Para investigadores de todas partes, la colección de BHL ofrece acceso gratuito y fácil, a siglos de literatura y recursos científicos que, de otra manera, serían inaccesibles.

“Aún ahora, que me encuentro trabajando en una colección grande y tengo acceso a literatura especializada, existen trabajos muy antiguos a los que puedo acceder únicamente a través de BHL,” confirma Orellana.

Estamos orgullosos de saber que BHL empodera la investigación de biodiversidad a nivel global. Mientras nos enfrentamos a la desaparición sin precedentes de la biodiversidad —con más de un millón de especies amenazadas con la extinción— el acceso inmediato a literatura en línea es más importante que nunca, permitiendo que los científicos conduzcan sus investigaciones de una manera más rápida y eficiente, mejorando la habilidad de responder a la crisis de biodiversidad actual. Esperamos continuar trabajando con nuestra comunidad de socios para asegurar que los investigadores como Samanta Orellana tengan a la mano los recursos que necesitan para estudiar y conservar la biodiversidad, desde el gorgojo más pequeño a la secoya más grande.

April 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Organizations around the world have commemorated the occasion by participating in the global Earth Optimism movement — an initiative spearheaded by the Smithsonian to “turn the conservation conversation from doom and gloom to optimism and opportunity”.

Throughout 2020, the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) and our partners are joining the movement by sharing conservation success stories from and made possible by the BHL collection. Follow our blog for conservation stories — past and present — and visit our website for more information and to explore our Earth Optimism book collection.

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Florida nutmeg, Torreya taxifolia (male). This illustration, along with that of the female tree, represents the first published illustration of this species. Plate 232. Hooker’s Icones plantarum, vol. 3 (1840). Contributed in BHL from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library.

On 5 June 1834, avid amateur botanist Hardy Bryan Croom wrote a letter to botanist John Torrey describing a gymnosperm tree in northern Florida that he was struggling to identify. In this letter, he postulated—with some degree of confidence—that the tree was Taxus baccata, the common yew, and he hoped to acquire some specimens to send to Torrey for investigation.

Torrey was one of the most important 19th century botanists in America. He corresponded with hundreds of scientists in North America and Europe, many of whom sent him specimens from their various explorations for study and identification. As such a well-respected expert and advisor on botanical science, it comes as no surprise that Croom sought Torrey’s expertise regarding this mysterious Florida tree.

The next year, in a letter dated 18 November 1835, Croom wrote again to Torrey, stating:

“The letter which I wrote last summer has had the effect to procure me some perfect fruit of that remarkable Taxoid tree at Aspalaga. The result surprises me. It is an ovate one celled nut entirely enclosed in fleshy covering! as large as a pigeon’s egg! Calix imbricated; thus agreeing neither with Taxus nor with Podocarpus. Besides, the tree, I think, is dioecious, but of this I am not yet certain. What will you do with it? Will it make a new genus?”

The following year, Croom again wrote to Torrey in a letter dated 18 May 1836 that he had determined that the tree represented a new genus. He proposed the genus name Torreya and provided a description and habitat details for “this fine tree,” for which he remarked:

“It is so abundant about Aspalaga (especially on Flat Creek) as to have been sawed into plank and lumber. It is an elegant tree with dark green foliage.”

With this letter, Croom provided the first recorded description of the habitat and abundance of the Florida nutmeg, Torreya taxifolia.

Sadly, Croom and his family drowned in a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Hatteras on 8 October 1837. As such, Torrey arranged that the new genus and species were formally named and described by botanist George Arnott Walker-Arnott in 1838.

While Croom characterized Torreya taxifolia as abundant in 1836, today the species is critically endangered. With a distribution restricted to the limestone ravines and bluffs along the Apalachicola River in northern Florida and southern Georgia, fewer than a thousand individual trees persist in their native habitat. The most significant threat to the species is continued reproductive failure resulting from fungal pathogens—a threat which is continuing but not well-understood [1].

Torreya taxifolia is one of the species highlighted in a recent study to be published in the Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Society. Authors Dr. Brian M. Boom (Curator Emeritus and former Vice President for Conservation Strategy and Bassett Maguire Curator of Botany at The New York Botanical Garden) and Susan Fraser (Recently-retired Thomas J. Hubbard Vice President and Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library) review John Torrey’s botanical legacy, drawing heavily on Torrey’s extensive correspondence, most of which, along with drawings, books, and artifacts from Torrey’s collections, can be found in the holdings of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) [2].

In 2016, NYBG embarked on a project to digitize and transcribe Torrey’s correspondence and make both freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). To date, more than 9,500 pages of correspondence—including those from Croom regarding Torreya taxifolia—are available in BHL, and over 7,000 of those pages have been transcribed.

The Torrey correspondence available through BHL was an invaluable resource during Boom and Fraser’s research for their study, which highlights several rare, restricted-range, or threatened plant species for which Torrey was directly involved in the scientific discovery and description phases. This was especially true with regards to Torreya taxifolia.

“BHL was instrumental in researching the circumstances surrounding the discovery and naming of this species, particularly through access to the correspondence of Hardy Bryan Croom and John Torrey between 1834-1837,” asserts Boom.

Dr. Brian M. Boom, Curator Emeritus and former Vice President for Conservation Strategy and Bassett Maguire Curator of Botany at The New York Botanical Garden. Photo Credit: The New York Botanical Garden.

Boom has been studying plant conservation, systematics, and ethnobotany for 40 years. His conservation work focuses on rare, restricted-range and threatened plant species in the American tropics and North Temperate areas, or, alternatively, on invasive species that pose threats to native flora in these regions. An important aspect of his research is aimed at understanding these species from the circumstances surrounding their discovery in the field and description and publication as a new species, through to subsequent documentation of their occurrence in the landscape, and with regards to the threats they are under, in the case of rare plants, or the threats they cause, in the case of invasives.

“Plant species with restricted geographic ranges, or that are rare or threatened, are of conservation concern because it could take relatively little perturbation to cause populations of such species to become further restricted, fragmented, or to become extinct,” states Boom.

Understanding the history of a species’ scientific discovery and subsequent changes in its population and distribution over time require access to historical data. As Boom articulates, BHL’s collections are rich in such data and thus play a vital role in research on threatened species.

“Conservation-related research benefits greatly from BHL in terms of providing access to some of the classic and most iconic images of plant species and to the early texts and archival materials, especially correspondence, pertaining to the focal species,” affirms Boom.

Torreya taxifolia. Plate 109. The North American Sylva, vol. 6 (1849). Art drawn by G. West. Contributed in BHL from New York Botanical Garden, LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

Beyond the published literature, correspondence and field notes are especially valuable as they may contain information that is not included in the published literature or on the herbarium labels of the specimens collected. For example, in the case of Torreya taxifolia, the type specimen is in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. While there is no collector indicated on the actual specimen, John Torrey is listed as the collector in the Kew specimen database. However, Boom stresses that he knows of no record of Torrey visiting Florida before he made a five-week trip to the state in 1872, during which he did not observe Torreya taxifolia in its natural habitat, although in March of that year he did collect a cultivated specimen of this species in a garden near Tallahassee that he believed had been planted there by Croom (NY Barcode 9506).

“It seems very likely that the holotype was in fact collected by Hardy Bryan Croom, and that Torrey passed a specimen that Croom had sent to him on to Scottish botanist George Arnott Walker-Arnott, who described the new species in 1838,” explains Boom.

As further evidence for this hypothesis, the holotype specimen (K Barcode K000287662) contains a pencil notation, written in Croom’s handwriting, stating: “New genus of Coniferae allied to Taxus. To be described in the next number of the Lyceum of Natural History.”

Torreya taxifolia is a testament to the important role that BHL’s open access collections play in research on endangered species. The historical conservation and systematics research conducted for this species was made possible by reviewing the John Torrey correspondence that is available in BHL and enhanced with crowdsourced transcriptions generated via From the Page. BHL also provided access to the first known published illustrations of Torreya taxifolia, which appeared in Hooker’s Icones plantarum.

Florida nutmeg, Torreya taxifolia (female). This illustration, along with that of the male tree, represent the first published illustrations of this species. Plate 233. Hooker’s Icones plantarum, vol. 3 (1840). Contributed in BHL from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library.

By providing open access to essential literature and archives, BHL is empowering the work of conservationists around the world. Easy and immediate online access to these materials allows scientists to conduct their research more quickly and efficiently—which is ever-more important as biodiversity faces unprecedented threats today, with at least one million species threatened with extinction [3].

“The BHL resources are the only or most readily available ones for accessing certain older titles and certainly for images of plants and correspondence of botanists involved with the discovery and description of new species and of their habitat,” asserts Boom. “Such literature is important for conservation work because the historical materials often contain first-hand commentary about the collection and discovery of threatened species, including information about their population size at the place of discovery and of the habitat in which the species occurred at the time.”

By providing conservationists with the information they need to help save biodiversity, the Biodiversity Heritage Library is improving our ability to respond to today’s biodiversity crisis. As such, free and open access to biodiversity knowledge is a reason to be an Earth Optimist.

References

In 1780, French naturalist François Le Vaillant traveled to the Cape of Good Hope and subsequently spent several years studying the region’s biodiversity. During his three journeys—the first around Cape Town and Saldanha Bay (April to August 1781), the second eastwards from the Cape (December 1781 to May 1783), and the third to the Orange River and into Great Namaqualand (June 1783 to c. May 1784)—Le Vaillant amassed a collection of thousands of specimens. Upon returning to Europe, he published accounts of his travels within Voyage dans l’intérieur de l’Afrique (1790, 2 vols.) and Second voyage dans l’intérieur de l’Afrique (1796, 3 vols.)—both of which were best sellers and were translated into several languages.

Within these narratives, Le Vaillant writes repeatedly of his Khoikhoi guide, whom he called Klaas (but whose name in Klaas’s own Khoe language seems to be unrecorded). Le Vaillant’s respect and affection for Klaas is evident. In the first volume of his Voyage dans l’intérieur de l’Afrique, Le Vaillant writes:

“…le bon Klaas fut déclaré mon égal, mon frère, le confident de tous mes plaisirs, de mes disgrâces, de toutes mes pensées ; il a plus d’une fois calmé mes ennuis, & ranimé mon courage abattu.” [“…the good Klaas is declared my equal, my brother, the confidant of all my pleasures, of my disgraces, of all my thoughts; he has more than once calmed my troubles, & revived my shattered courage.”]

Klaas, of whom Le Vaillant wrote “by long practice [he] had become a naturalist”, also collected specimens for the French naturalist, which Le Vaillant later described within publications such as Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique (1796–1808, 6 vols.). One such specimen was that of Klaas’s cuckoo, a species native to the wooded regions of sub-Saharan Africa. According to Le Vaillant, Klaas collected the specimen “près de la rivière Platte” (“near the Platte river”). It was the only individual of this species that the company encountered during their expedition.

When Le Vaillant published his account of the species within Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique (v. 5, 1806), he named it “Le Coucou de Klaas” in honor of “mon ami Klaas”, writing:

“Puissent les naturalistes conserver à l’espèce que je vais décrire, le nom que je lui donne, et consacre ainsi les services que tu m’as rendus: ils me prouveront par là que mes travaux ont eu quelque prix à leurs yeux.” [“May naturalists preserve for the species I am going to describe, the name I give it, and thus consecrate the services you have rendered me: they will prove to me by this that my work has had some value in their eyes.”]

Klaas’s cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas). Engraving by William Lizars after William Swainson from Sir William Jardine’s Naturalist’s Library: Ornithology (v. 12, 1853 edition). Contributed in BHL from the Musée cantonal de zoologie, Lausanne.

While Le Vaillant, who opposed the Linnaean classification system, provided only French names to the species he described, future naturalists did fortunately honor Le Vaillant’s commemoration of Klaas. Some ten years after Le Vaillant’s description was published, English zoologist James Francis Stephens made a formal redescription of the species, designating it Cuculus klaas (now Chrysococcyx klaas).

Eponymous scientific naming, or the practice of naming a species after an individual, is the subject of Dr. Stephen B. Heard’s book, Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider (2020). Klaas’s cuckoo is the earliest example of a species being named after an Indigenous person that Heard has been able to trace. While researching the name for his book, Heard relied on the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) to access Le Vaillant’s description of Klaas’s cuckoo and uncover more about the story behind the name.

“BHL is an incredibly rich resource,” lauds Heard. “These older names are often frustrating to puzzle out. In general, there’s no single index of name etymologies—you have to look for the paper that originally described the species and hope the name is explained. When I’m working on books or blog posts where I can explore my interests in the history of science, I use BHL every day.”

Dr. Stephen B. Heard, pictured in the Wesman Islands of Iceland. Photo by: Kristie S. Heard.

Heard, an evolutionary ecologist, is a Professor of Biology at the University of New Brunswick in Canada. His “everyday” research concerns the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions, for which he relies on modern literature. However, some of his recent projects have taken a more historical turn—a turn that led him to BHL.

“My first book, The Scientist’s Guide to Writing, explores some of the history and social context of scientific writing,” shares Heard. “In trying to explain the evolution of what’s now a quite standardized writing form (the scientific paper), I dipped into writing as far back as the 1660s. BHL is a wonderful place to find that old literature.”

Heard found himself relying on BHL once again during his research on eponymous names for Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider.

“As I began work on Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider, I discovered that an enormous amount of taxonomic literature, in particular, is available online via BHL—and not just the obvious major journals,” says Heard. “The collection includes books, obscure memoirs of regional natural history societies, you name it. Most of that older and more obscure literature is not available through my university library, so BHL is a critical resource for me.”

For Heard, one of the best things about eponymous scientific names is the insight they provide on the personality and humanity of scientists. Take, for example, French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte), who named over 200 bird species and over 250 bird genera. Heard was particularly struck by a paradox in two of Bonaparte’s namings: the bird of paradise Diphyllodes respublica and the imperial pigeon Ptilocolpa carola.

Bird of paradise (Diphyllodes respublica). Illustration by John Gould and William Matthew Hart from Gould’s The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan islands, v. 1 (1875-1888). Contributed in BHL from Smithsonian Libraries.

“Bonaparte named the bird of paradise as a statement of his republican ideals (perhaps a bit risky for a nephew of Napoleon), but he named the pigeon for his ‘daughter the countess Primoli, Charlotte, herself worthy of her illustrious name,’” explains Heard. “The inconsistency between Bonaparte’s republicanism and his mention of his daughter’s title and ‘illustrious name’ is fascinating—a good illustration of how scientific practice isn’t immune to the foibles and humanity of scientists themselves. As I worked on Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider, and spent more and more time with the writing of those who describe and (eponymously) name species, I was more and more struck by the creativity and humanity behind the act.”

By providing free and open access to scientific literature, BHL is not only empowering modern taxonomic research, but also allowing researchers like Dr. Heard to learn more about the history of taxonomy and the people and stories behind the names. BHL’s impact on science has been recognized through modern-day eponymous naming. In 2015, a new land snail species from Laos—Vargapupa biheli Páll-Gergely, 2015—was named in honor of BHL. As author Dr. Barna Páll-Gergely wrote in the paper publishing the name:

“The new species is named after the Biodiversity Heritage Library (www.biodiversitylibrary.org) to thank the multitude of rare literature made available to us. The name ‘biheli’ is an acronym derived from the name BIodiversity HEritage Library.”

Vargapupa biheli Páll-Gergely, 2015, named in honor of BHL. Photo by: Barna Páll-Gergely.

In 2019, a new species of fossil robber fly—Kishenehnoasilus bhl Dikow, 2019—was named in honor of BHL. On selecting this name, author Dr. Torsten Dikow shared:

“Taxonomic research involves not only the study of specimens, but also the review of often old literature. Having digital access to publications enhanced with tools such as scientific name recognition makes my research so much more efficient. The Biodiversity Heritage Library provides a lens into the literature published a long time ago. The same is true for this new species of robber fly, as it helps us to understand and document the past of biodiversity.”

Kishenehnoasilus bhl Dikow, 2019, named in honor of BHL. Photo by: Dale Greenwalt.

Whether it be as a vehicle to teach us more about an individual recognized in a species name, a window into the personalities and lives of the scientists naming species, or an opportunity to highlight the impact of policies like open access on global research, a species name is often a story waiting to be told—stories that BHL and its open access collections can help tell.

BHL has deployed a new taxonomic name finding tool to improve the speed and accuracy of identifying names throughout its 58+ million pages.

BHL is now using Global Names Architecture’s (GNA) gnfinder tool to locate taxonomic names in the BHL corpus. Prior to this deployment, BHL’s name finding services were based on an index of scientific names created by GNA developers six years ago by parsing every page in BHL one by one. This took 45 days to accomplish, and the cost of repeating this process made updating or improving the index infeasible.

The gnfinder tool uses fast, scalable programming languages to significantly reduce computational time. Using Open Source applications in Go and Scala, the tool detects candidate scientific names and compares them to millions of scientific name-strings aggregated by GNA for verification. The new process decreases the time needed for name detection and name verification from 35 days to 5 hours and from 7 days to 12 hours, respectively. As a result, the entire BHL corpus can now be indexed in less than a day, compared to the 45 days needed for the previous index. Additionally, by significantly reducing computational time, implementing iterative improvements to the index is now achievable.

The accuracy of the names identified has also been improved with this deployment. By eliminating questionable results and false positives from the previous index, gnfinder produces a more accurate index of names in BHL. More than 34 million unique names — representing more than 239 million total instances of taxonomic name strings — were identified across the BHL corpus as of 21 July 2020. Of these, approximately 11.7 million are “Verified Names”, meaning they are unique names that have been resolved against a name authority (NameBank, Catalogue of Life, etc).

The gnfinder tool was developed by Dmitry Mozzherin and Alexander Myltsev as part of GNA project work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mozzherin shared more about the process of developing this tool at the Biodiversity Next conference in Leiden, The Netherlands in 2019. Learn more in the presentation slides.

You can learn more about how the BHL implementation of the gnfinder tool works in our FAQ.

We would like to thank our colleagues at Global Names Architecture — especially Dmitry Mozzherin, Alexander Myltsev, and David Patterson — for their work to develop these tools. Thanks also to Joel Richard (BHL Technical Coordinator and Head of Web Services and IT at Smithsonian Libraries) and Mike Lichtenberg (BHL Lead Developer) for their work to deploy gnfinder on the BHL website.

If you have questions about gnfinder or would like to provide feedback or suggestions, please contact Global Names Architecture via the Global Names BHL project on GitHub.

Global Names development on BHL indexing is supported by National Science Foundation grants #1356347 and #1645959 as well as the Species File Group at the University of Illinois.

At the end of the twentieth century, the The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and The Australian National Herbarium began collaboration on an ambitious project—to create an online index of names for all of the world’s vascular plants [1].

By combining the data in the nomenclatural indices of these three institutions—namely Index Kewensis, the Gray Card Index, and the Australian Plant Names Index—the collaboration created the International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Hosted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, today the database includes over 1.6 million records. As part of the provided nomenclatural information, IPNI includes bibliographic details linked to scanned literature in the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) and links to taxonomic data through the Plants of the World Online.

Not surprisingly, given its role as a source of scanned literature for the Index, BHL is a vital resource for those working to build and maintain the IPNI database.

“I started working for the International Plant Names Index in 2013,” says Heather Lindon, Plant and Fungal Names Editor at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . “I need to be able to look up protologues—the original place of publication of plant names and their descriptions. If the earliest place of publication isn’t known, we can use the name search in BHL to try to find it. Since our modern naming system dates to 1753, BHL has a lot of relevant literature for my work. Also, the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature that govern plant names apply to names published in the past, so consulting older works is still relevant for names being published today.”

Heather Lindon, editor of the International Plant Names Index (ipni.org). Photo credit: Christodoulos Foufoulides.

Lindon has worked in the botanical sciences since 2003. Her resume is extensive and varied, and includes: serving as a paleobotanist at the Smithsonian; working on a native seed collection project at Chicago Botanic Gardens; digitizing plant specimens at the Natural History Museum, London and Kew; teaching university level botany; working in entomology on invasive plant control; running a molecular research lab; and conducting field surveys for the US Army.

For the past seven years, Lindon has worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as an editor on the Plant and Fungal Names Curation team, which curates the name, author, and publication data in IPNI. While BHL is often praised for providing access to literature that researchers may not otherwise be able to obtain, it also helps improve the research efficiency of those who do have access to robust research libraries.

“Although the library at Kew Gardens is extensive, since I often only need to look at a single page quickly to confirm a name, it’s much faster to use BHL,” explains Lindon. “With over 1.6 million plant name records to curate, and 6,000 more added every year, anything that can speed up the process is welcome. BHL also gives me access to editions or volumes that might be missing from Kew’s Library.”

The Plant and Fungal Names team hard at work in their office at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Clockwise from Front Left: Ben Moon (Checklist volunteer), Jonathan Krieger (IPNI), Rafaël Govaerts (World Checklist of Vascular Plants), Heather Lindon, Helen Hartley (both IPNI) Rahim Dina (Student Intern on IPNI to scan literature and link IPNI to BHL).

From verifying the accuracy of the place, date and publication data in IPNI to confirming original spellings, establishing the correct author of a name, or reviewing the language of the original plant description, Lindon and her colleagues use BHL almost daily. For the small team managing the IPNI database, including Lindon and two other content editors at Kew and a collaborator at Harvard University Herbarium, the access and efficiencies that BHL provides are essential.

“BHL is a fantastic tool,” lauds Lindon. “For me personally, it also allows me to work from home more often, which is a huge bonus. That would not have been possible just five or 10 years ago in this kind of work. Even when I am in the office, I can find the information I need quickly.”

The Library is also useful both for answering reference questions received from users and as a way for users to provide feedback to the IPNI team members.

“We receive emails daily from users of our database to address matters of nomenclature. Answering these questions often involves searching through BHL’s literature,” shares Lindon. “Our users who send in questions and corrections can also send us a link directly to the relevant BHL page, which means we can sort out and answer their questions quickly.”

The chance to get together every 6 years to discuss nomenclature for a week is very exciting – for a nomenclaturist! IPNI team members Heather Lindon and Helen Hartley went to the conference in Shenzhen, China in 2017. Photo credit: Helen Hartley.

While BHL is an important repository of scanned literature for the database, inserting links to relevant pages on BHL was once a manual process for Lindon and her colleagues. However, a redesign of the IPNI website dramatically improved this workflow by making use of BHL’s OpenURL Resolver to create dynamic links to BHL pages.

“When IPNI designed its new website, we made sure that it could parse the information about the publication title, volume page and year,” says Lindon. “That means we don’t have to make individual links from names in our system to BHL. We can just tidy up the publication details in one go, and it will automatically link to the correct page in BHL.”

Lindon hopes that IPNI and BHL can build upon this progress to collaborate even further in the future.

“We would like for there to be stronger ties between the IPNI name list and the scientific name finder in BHL,” asserts Lindon. “That will make it easier for us to find names for keeping the database updated, but also for users to find literature on plant names in the search.”

While there are many publications in the Library are are useful for her research, such as the digitized volumes of the original printed copies of Index Kewensis, Lindon’s favorite publication in BHL is Taxonomic Literature 2 (TL-2). TL-2 is a 15 volume guide to the literature of systematic botany published between 1753 and 1940. It serves as the standard by which authors’ names and titles should be abbreviated in works on systematic botany [2].

“Having Taxonomic Literature 2 scanned means that we can easily link to it in our system,” shares Lindon. “If there is a question of publication date or authorship, we can click right through from the author’s record in IPNI and find the answer in TL-2 via BHL.”

Occasionally, the IPNI team does get out of the office for other projects. Heather Lindon and IPNI Intern Rahim Dina did some seed collecting for Kew’s UK Native Tree Seed Collecting project. Photo credit: Fran Culverhouse.

As an enthusiastic BHL user, Lindon is not only grateful for the support that BHL provides to herself, her colleagues, and the IPNI user community, but she is also proud that her institution is part of BHL’s global consortium—a passionate community working to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to essential literature.

“It’s been good for Kew’s scientific library to be able to share what they have with users around the world,” affirms Lindon. “BHL makes the information that is often hidden away in institutions accessible, especially for those who might not always have access to a botanical library.”

We are proud to know that BHL is such a vital resource for the International Plant Names Index and its community of editors and users, allowing the Library to support the progression of the plant sciences and the work of systematic botanists around the world.

References

The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) is launching a new initiative to reward early-career researchers, within the fields of taxonomy, biodiversity and geodiversity science, who base their research on natural science collections. E-SCORE – Excellence in Scientific Collections-based Research, is a celebration of the new generation of scientists who have shown dedication to the use of collections that help document, describe and understand life on earth, and the processes that have shaped it. The award also celebrates the United Nations endorsed International Day for Biological Diversity, which falls annually on the 22nd of May to commemorate the 1992 adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity. CETAF will award E-SCORE for the first time in 2020 to mark the end of the UN International Decade of Biodiversity.

The foundations of E-SCORE are the natural-scientific collections that are hosted, preserved and curated in research organisations across the European Community and in associated countries with CETAF member institutions. The research staff of these institutions explore and document diversity in nature. The knowledge they collectively build provides a foundation on which policies and initiatives for nature conservation and the protection of natural resources are based. By awarding E-SCORE, CETAF wishes to highlight the significance of collections-based research in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change.

FEATURES

The prize will be given annually and consists of three parts:

• A cash prize of 1,000 €;
• Financial support (up to 1,000 €) to facilitate a scientific visit of the Award Winner to one of the CETAF institutes;
• An invitation to the next CETAF Governing Board meeting for a (virtual) presentation of the winning research.

Young researchers from all over the world are eligible; affiliation with a CETAF member is not mandatory. For those without current affiliation, their application shall include a nomination from a member of a CETAF institution.

Applications are due by 31 January 2020. For more information, including eligibility criteria and the application form, go to the CETAF website.

Please spread this great opportunity widely in your networks and encourage all deserving young researchers to participate!

CETAF and BHL have been reciprocal partners since 2018.