janvanderbrugge
Well-known member
Of all the Starling species on earth I suppose the South African Wattled Starling Creatophora cinerea has received the largest amount of synonyms; in part, of course, as a result of the curious wattles featuring this bird in its nesting season, which are partly or completely missing at other periods. Gmelin calls this species Gracula carunculata and according to Richmond's Index his name is based upon: Walch.Naturf. II.p.9. t.2.17. p.14.
This leads to Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch (1725-1778), a theologian and linguistic scholar of Jena, Germany, who in his later years became active in natural history. He wrote "Die Naturgeschichte der Versteinerungen" (the natural history of petrifactions), published in four volumes, 1768-1773.
Biodiversity Heritage Library has only volume I, in the Dutch edition by M.Houttuyn and J.C.Sepp, title "De Natuurlijke Historie der Versteeningen", Amsterdam, 1773. The title page says that the work was initiated by Georg Wolfgang Knorr and continuated by Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch. The book contains a large quantity of drawings of fossils of fishes, insects and other invertebrates; fascinating, but no birds.
Of course I wondered if Richmond's quote Walch.Naturf. perhaps should
read Walch, Naturg. (for: Naturgeschichte), but I did not succeed in finding any additional information about the several volumes or anything from their contents. I would like to see the description of Tringa carunculata capensis and other species which Walch could have discussed. Apparently Jena University offers no service for such a peculiar quest . . .
Hopefully somebody who reads this can give me a hint or URL or copy of a piece of text.
Thank you very much in advance, cheers,
Jan van der Brugge
This leads to Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch (1725-1778), a theologian and linguistic scholar of Jena, Germany, who in his later years became active in natural history. He wrote "Die Naturgeschichte der Versteinerungen" (the natural history of petrifactions), published in four volumes, 1768-1773.
Biodiversity Heritage Library has only volume I, in the Dutch edition by M.Houttuyn and J.C.Sepp, title "De Natuurlijke Historie der Versteeningen", Amsterdam, 1773. The title page says that the work was initiated by Georg Wolfgang Knorr and continuated by Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch. The book contains a large quantity of drawings of fossils of fishes, insects and other invertebrates; fascinating, but no birds.
Of course I wondered if Richmond's quote Walch.Naturf. perhaps should
read Walch, Naturg. (for: Naturgeschichte), but I did not succeed in finding any additional information about the several volumes or anything from their contents. I would like to see the description of Tringa carunculata capensis and other species which Walch could have discussed. Apparently Jena University offers no service for such a peculiar quest . . .
Hopefully somebody who reads this can give me a hint or URL or copy of a piece of text.
Thank you very much in advance, cheers,
Jan van der Brugge
