31 

 PHASIANELLA "PULLA" OR "PULLUS"? 



By the Rev. A. II. COOKE, M.A., F.Z.S., 



Fellow and Tutor of King s College, Cambridge. 



Some uncertainty appears to prevail with regard to the meaning of 

 the specific name pidhis, as apphed by Linne to a common British 

 shell, which he regarded as a T2irbo, but which is now universally 

 classified as Phasianella. Thus Forbes and Hanley, regarding the 

 specific name as a substantive (and meaning "chicken"), write Ph. 

 pit/ his, while Jeffreys on the other hand regards it as an adjective, 

 writes Fh. pulla, and translates " dark-coloured " {Brit. Conch., iii, 



p. 338). 



An examination of the '■'■ Sys/eina iVrt/«^a^ " appears to set this 

 vexed question at rest. If we turn to the tenth edition — which is 

 now recognised as the authority for nomenclature — a very short exam- 

 ination of the specific names at the left-hand side of the text leads to 

 the conclusion that it was the habit of Linne, when he designated a 

 species by the name of a substantive in the nominative singular, to 

 print it with a capital letter.^ Thus we have on page 706 Mytilus 

 Modiolus and M. Hiriindo ; on p. 757 we have T. rochus Magus and 

 T. Modulus; on p. 765 we have Turbo Clathrus, T. Uva, and T. 

 Lina'na, etc., etc. 



On the other hand, when he designated a species by an adjective 

 in the nominative case, he printed it with a small initial letter. Thus 

 on the pages already referred to we have (on p. 706) Afytilus cygneus, 

 anatinus, viridis and ruber, (on p. 757) Trochus perspedivms, hybridus, 

 cruciatus and pharaonius, (on p. 765) Turbo crejiatus, lacteus, stri- 

 atulus, carneus and reflexus. And what he printed in this par- 

 ticular case was not Turbo pullus, but Turbo PuUus (p. 761). 



No one can have studied the text of the " Systema " without 

 discovering that Linne was not distinguished for extreme accuracy, 

 either in his references to other authors or in adherence to his own 

 rules. Thus we should expect to find exceptions to the rule above 

 indicated. As a matter of fact we do so, and in several cases these 

 exceptions are the result of mere carelessness, thus tending to confirm 

 rather than contradict our conclusion. We find, for instance, a few 

 substantival specific names written with a small initial letter, e. g. 

 Nautilus fascia (p. 711), Strombus urceus (p. 745), but in the twelfth 



I Probably following the custom of the Germans, and nations allied to the Germans, of 

 writing all nouns substantive with a capital. 



