Björn Bergenholtz
(former alias "Calalp")
And what about the last unsolved Mr. James [in James's Key ], the one, and the only one, with ending double-i, as in today's HBW Alive Key entry:
Another clue is found here: "Collected by Dr. James. Purchased of T. Higgins.", which leads us to "T. Higgins", here (p.384), and the "late Dr. James", who apparently was "killed by the natives of Yule Island shortly after his arrival in British New Guinea." With reference further on, to ... here:
Ending up with: Dr. James = William Hughes James (1852–1876), US medical doctor, naturalist and collector, etc., etc., ...
Case closed!
Björn
PS. For more details and full story, see the following paper, by the same guy (I assume) who supplied James (Jobling) with the initials ("W. H") above:
Graham R. Fulton. 2017. Dr William H. James 1852–76: medical doctor and naturalist. Bull. B.O.C. 2017 137 (1): pp. 71-87. (here).
The bird in question is mentioned on pp.79-80.
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* The Swede, mentioned as "Carl Thorngren" by Fulton, a k a Karl ditto (in German texts) = Captain (mariner) Carl Johan Törngren (here, in Swedish)
... which must be the debated Manucode subspecies or subspecies group (Manucodia) Phonygammus keraudrenii "jamesii" SHARPE 1877 (here) as "Phonygama jamesii" ... no dedication, no explanation, only the note below:jamesii
Dr W. H. James (fl. 1875) US physician, collector in New Guinea, Torres Strait Is., and northern Queensland, Australia (Graham Fulton in litt.) (subsp. Phonygammus keraudrenii).
Note that the "C." in scare bracketts is part of the quote, not inserted by me! C. = Collector.Aleya, S. E. New Guinea, April 1876 ------------ Dr. James [C.]. (Type of species.)
Another clue is found here: "Collected by Dr. James. Purchased of T. Higgins.", which leads us to "T. Higgins", here (p.384), and the "late Dr. James", who apparently was "killed by the natives of Yule Island shortly after his arrival in British New Guinea." With reference further on, to ... here:
Trusting this the young Dr. James was killed in 1876 ... which takes us to The Sydney Morning Herald, of 9 Nov. 1876, confirmed in the very hard to read piece: NEW GUINEA.—THE RECENT MASSACRE NEAR YULE ISLAND. (here). A bit more easy to read a week later, in the Melbourne Argus (here).A melancholy interest attaches to the present collection of Dr. James ; for it is at once the first, and last, that we shall receive from him. This young naturalist, whose career as a traveller commenced so favourably, and whose energy trampled on so many difficulties, was murdered by natives, as mentioned in a communication of the Rev. S. Macfarlane in ' Nature ' for Nov. 16, 1876: — " We have just heard of the massacre of Dr. James and his partner, a Swede [*], at Yule Island by the natives of New Guinea. They had gone in their large boat to the east side of Hall Sound to shoot Birds of Paradise, when they were attacked by three canoes, and both white men were killed. The native crew managed to get away in the boat, and brought the sad news here (Somerset)." His collection of birds was placed in my hands by his friend, Dr. Alfred Roberts, of Sydney, to whom they had been consigned by the deceased traveller ; and the present paper is an account of this collection. ...
[...]
He discovered the following new species : Phonygama jamesii ...
Ending up with: Dr. James = William Hughes James (1852–1876), US medical doctor, naturalist and collector, etc., etc., ...
Case closed!
Björn
PS. For more details and full story, see the following paper, by the same guy (I assume) who supplied James (Jobling) with the initials ("W. H") above:
Graham R. Fulton. 2017. Dr William H. James 1852–76: medical doctor and naturalist. Bull. B.O.C. 2017 137 (1): pp. 71-87. (here).
The bird in question is mentioned on pp.79-80.
_____________________________________________
* The Swede, mentioned as "Carl Thorngren" by Fulton, a k a Karl ditto (in German texts) = Captain (mariner) Carl Johan Törngren (here, in Swedish)
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