Karpov's ring-necked pheasant ... and possibly, maybe also "his" invalid Pine bunting (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Karpov's ring-necked pheasant ... and possibly, maybe also "his" invalid Pine bunting

I´m way, way out of my league here, but together we´ve solved trickier cases before, so here we go!

To start with, let´s have look at karpowi, as in:
• the subspecies Phasianus colchicus karpowi BUTURLIN 1904 (here) as "Phasianus karpowi" a k a "Korean ring-necked pheasant"

... den Typus dieser species, hat A. W. Karpow den 20. Januar (2. Febr. neuer Styl) 1901 in der südlichen Mandschurei bei Te-lin [...] erlegt und mir liebenswürdig gesandt.

Today's HBW Alive Key brief explanation of this Eponym is (simply following the above quote, I assume):

karpovi / karpowi
● Prof. Vladimir Pavlovich Karpov (1870-1943) Russian biologist, Professor of Histology at Moscow State University 1917 (syn. Emberiza leucocephalos).
● A. W. Karpov (fl. 1901) Russian collector in Manchuria (subsp. Phasianus colchicus).

But The Eponym Dictionary of Birds, 2014 (here) says that the Pheasant subspecies commemorate:

Professor Vladimir Pavlovich Karpov (1870–1943) was a Russian biologist, Professor of Histology at Moscow State University, and was in Manchuria (1901).

Something is ovbiously confused as that latter book claim both those eponyms, both the Pheasant karpowi and bunting karpovi, to commemorate the same person.

The second eponym is karpovi as in:
• the invalid Pine bunting subspecies "Emberiza leucocephalos karpovi" ZARUDNY 1913 (here)

In my mind the "A. Б. Карпова", mentioned in the OD of the bunting (see foot-note, p.94), does point in the direction that we´re searching for the one and same Captain Karpov/w ...? Or? Maybe both commemorate an unknown, yet another, completely different Karpov/w ... ?!

But before we start discussing transcriptions of Russian names in various ways or languages [the English (and Swedish) Karpov vs the German Karpow] let´s try to find his original Russian name.

Following Mr. Ingram's article The Birds in Manchuria, 1909 (here) I assume we´re looking for a certain "Capt. Karpow, then in the Russian Army", but Ingram gives us yet another clue (on p.434): "... Bianchi has compiled a brief catalogue of the birds collected by Capt. Karpow ... " – which is this one (here).

But it´s all in Russian! And know I´m lost (helped only by the OCR): "Ахпллъ Бонифатьевичъ Карповъ" alt. "Ахпллa Бонифатьевичъ Карповa" (which Google translate turns into: Achilles Bonifatevich Karpov) ... !?

Anyone now know who we´re looking for?

Is it possibly this guy: КАРПОВ, Ахилл Бонифатьевич (1866/1867–1911), Cossack Army Captain, here and here ...?

Helped only by Google Translate I have the feeling that those two links might be dealing with "our" guy. At least he seem to have had some kind of interest in Natural History (i.e. a member of the Russian Entomological Society and the Zoological Museum correspondent to the Academy of Sciences (1902), according to the first of those links).

Is there anyone "out there" who understand more?

Björn
--

 

[James Jobling]

Bjorn, I agree with your findings and attachments (i.e. there is only one Karpov' commemorated) and have edited the Key accordingly.

 

[l_raty]

But it´s all in Russian! And know I´m lost (helped only by the OCR): "Ахпллъ Бонифатьевичъ Карповъ" alt. "Ахпллa Бонифатьевичъ Карповa" (which Google translate turns into: Achilles Bonifatevich Karpov) ... !?

"Ахиллъ Бонифатьевичъ Карповъ" -- 'п' instead of 'и' is an OCR error.
Before the spelling reforms of 1917-18, the hard sign ъ (AKA 'yer' or 'tvyórdy znak') was used in Russian to 'close' any word that would otherwise have ended in a consonant. The letter, when used this way, was entirely mute; in the reforms, this use was simply discontinued, thus what used to be "Ахиллъ Бонифатьевичъ Карповъ" became "Ахилл Бонифатьевич Карпов" (Akhill Bonifat'evich Karpov).
'-a' is the most frequent genitive ending in masculine names -- e.g., "karpovi (subsp. nov.) по имени А. Б. Карпова" = "karpovi (subsp. nov) after the name of AB Karpov".

If the same person is commemorated in the name of the pheasant, we have to accept that the initial of his patronymic was mis-transcribed in Buturlin's description: "A. W. Karpow" in a German context implies a patronymic starting with the Cyrillic letter 'В', thus not 'Бонифатьевичъ'.
But as Bianchi appears to list the type specimen of Buturlin's Ph. karpowi among the birds collected by AB Karpov, there seems to be no easy way out of this. (Bianchi [here]: "Phasianus torquatus Gm. ♂, 20.1.1901, Тѣлинъ."; Buturlin [here]: "Ein altes ♂, den Typus dieser species, hat A. W. Karpow den 20. Januar (2. Febr. neuer Styl) 1901 in der südlichen Mandschurei bei Te-lin [...] erlegt".)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Thanks, James & Laurent!

Thereby; no more "Vladimir Pavlovich Karpov", on either one!?

But instead a; Akhill Bonifat(y)evich Karpov on both!

Apparently I wasn't´t that lost ...

Is it possible to tell if he´s equal of the "1866/7–1911" Karpov?

/B

 

[l_raty]

Is it possible to tell if he´s equal of the "1866/7–1911" Karpov?

In...
Корепова ДА. 2015. Каталог орнитологической коллекции с. а. Бутурлина из фондов Ульяновского областного краеведческого музея им. И. А. Гончарова. (Catalogue of the ornithological collection of SA Buturlin from the funds of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Core by the name of Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov.) Ульяновск: Издательство «Корпорация технологий продвижения». [pdf]
...an entire chapter is dedicated to Buturlin's collectors, preparators, taxidermist, etc. On p.11, she wrote:

КАРПОВ Ахилл Бонифатьевич (1867–1911)
Уральский казак, родился в семье казачьего офицера. Учился в Оренбургской военной прогимназии и в Оренбургском казачьем юнкерском училище. С 1886 г. служил в Амурском казачьем войске, в 1896 г. перевёлся в Уральское казачье войско, а в 1900 г. – на Восточно-Китайскую железную дорогу в Заамурскую пограничную стражу. Участвовал в русско-японской войне. В 1907 г. возвратился в Уральское казачье войско в чине есаула. Одновременно со службой занимался историческими исследованиями и литературным творчеством (Карпов А. Б. URL: http://www.optima-uralsk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=14999). Умер скоротечно в Сочи от туберкулёза, тело перевезено в Уральск, где он и был похоронен на Спасо-Преображенском кладбище.
Карпов находился в переписке с С. А. Бутурлиным (Громова, 2003), в УКМ хранится 12 его писем (1901–1903 гг.) и 1 тушка (серый скворец УКМ № 33), собранная на территории Китая в 1901 г.

(KARPOV Akhill Bonifat'evich (1867-1911)
An Ural Cossack, born in the family of a Cossack officer. He studied at the Orenburg Military Progymnasium and the Orenburg Cossack Junker School. From 1886, he served in the Amur Cossack Army, in 1896 he moved to the Urals Cossack Army, and in 1900 - on the East China Railway - to the Zaamur Border Guard. Took part in the Russo-Japanese war. In 1907, he returned to the Urals Cossack Army with the rank of captain. Simultaneously with the service he was engaged in historical research and literary creation (Karpov AB, URL: http://www.optima-uralsk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=14999). He died in Sochi from tuberculosis, his body was transported to Uralsk, where he was buried at the Transfiguration Cemetery.
Karpov was in correspondence with SA Buturlin (Gromova, 2003), 12 letters from him (1901-1903) and 1 specimen (white-cheeked starling UKM No. 33) collected in China in 1901 are kept at the UKM.
[My adaptation of Google's translation; possibly improvable.])

Anyway, she seems to be in agreement with you.

(What she calls 'UKM' is the Ульяновский областной краеведческий музей, AKA "Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Core".)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Something for James to ponder over alt. chew on ...

Thanks, Laurent, and well found! :t:

On top of that; doesn´t that Russian paper, by КОРЕПОВА 2015 (first link, post #5, pdf, pp.9-18), also gives us (for example); "ЧЕРСКИЙ Александр Иванович (1879–1921)" (that ought to be something like "Alexander Ivanovich Cherski/Tschersky"), on pp.16-17, who (in my mind!) ought to be a likely candidate for the one being commemorated in:

• the fairly obscure, invalid (if ever published?) "Dendrocopus japonicus tscherskii" BUTURLIN 1910

In today's Key explained as:

tscherskii
A. J. Tschersky (fl. 1909) Russian zoologist, collector in Siberia 1909 (syn.*Dendrocopos major japonicus).

I assume there´s far more info to find in those Russian pages, but like I said ... this is far, far out of my league. I gladly leave them all in more capable hands.

Mr. Karpov (on my part) ... over and out!

 

[James Jobling]

Thanks, Björn. Following up on your Cherskiy I had a quick "flip" through the names in the Catalogue of the Buturlin Collection, and came up with more information about Kobylin and Pleske. I think also that K. A. Laurenti may need further investigation (see laurentei/laurentii).

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Quick return

James, I´m not so sure of the added Eduardovich part of Pleske's name (Фёдор Дмитриевич Плеске), see Slepkova 2007 ... here:

Fedor Dmitrievich (Theodor Eduard) Pleske was born July 11, 1858, in Peterhof (Bogdanov, 1889)*. In the biographic data on his elder brother, Eduard Dmitrievich Pleske (1854–1904), well known in the financial community, the names of their parents are to be found: Eduard Ludwig Pleske (1817–1873) and Margareth Elisabeth Oom (1882–1880) [sic, apparently a typo, dead before born!], belonging to the gentry of St. Petersburg Province.

Isn´t that simply a patronym, following the Russian tradition, and their patronymic way, of writing his name? A tradition rarely used in English?

At least not in Swedish!

Björn
_______________________________________________________________
*"The dates before February 1, 1918 are given in the Julian (Old Style) Caledar".

 

[James Jobling]

Pesky Pleske!
If Fëdor's father's Christian name was Eduard, I would expect Fëdor's patronym to be Eduardovich not Dmitrievich. Who was Dmitri? I shall keep both patronyms on record until some Slavophile comes to the rescue!

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Mr. Pleske

And Russian Wiki turns it the other way around, and gives his name as: "Фёдор Эдуардович (Дмитриевич) Плеске" ... Fedor Eduardovich (Dmitrievich) Pleske ...!?

Hard to tell which way is the proper one. No idea who Dmitri truly was.

To me it looks (disclaimer: this is only based on gut feeling!) contra Slepkova 2007, like Eduardovich very well could be the proper patronym and that the Dmitrievich part somehow entered Fedor's name (alt. Fëdor/Fjodor/Theodor/Theodore), from the name of his Brother. Maybe the missing Dmitri (as in Dmitrievich) was their Grandfather? However, this far, I have nothing to support this thought (i.e. guess).

Sigh! Quite irritating ... as Mr. Pleske is commemorated in Iranian Ground-Jay Podoces pleskei ZARUDNY 1896 a k a Pleske's Ground-Jay (in Swedish Pleskes ökenskrika) ... and I thought I´d finished that one long ago. Well, well, back to the old notes. Once again.

 

[l_raty]

There is some info on [this page] (and its sequels, see the links at the bottom) but (as was to be expected) it's in Russian. (And, apparently, "it's complicated"...)

So far as I understand, the brothers were both born as Эдуардович. Their father died in 1873, when Эдуард was 20 and Фёдор 15, and it is from that time that the patronymic Дмитриевич appears. Around this time, other Pleskes (cousins?) resided at the same place as them, whose patronymic was Дмитриевич, and who may have acted as their tutors after the father's death. It seems probable that they took this name by assimilation to them. (Дмитрий may have been an uncle.)
Эдуард (who became the Russian Minister of Finance) used Дмитриевич for the rest of his life. Фёдор in a sense lived a 'double life', on one side he was a famous zoologist and academician, on the other he was a businessman. He apparently used Дмитриевич mainly when acting as a scientist, but Эдуардович when acting as a company board member or share holder.

Where I have seen his name in Cyrillic in one of his zoological works, it was rendered "Ѳ. Д. Плеске", e.g. [here] and [here], implying Дмитриевич. In German, he generally used only Theodor.

PS - Using both at the same time is probably not an option.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Thanks, Laurent! Once again you bring some order in chaos ...

James, keep the Eduardovich part, it´s apparently his original (middle) name.

As I understand it, the Dmitrievich part was, when it first came in use, a "(legal) custodian/guardian-onym"! If such a word could exist. Well, that´s some sort of (second) patronym ...

Either way; this far I will (in my MS, in Swedish transcription) have him as: Fjodor Eduardovitj Pleske (1858–1932) a k a (after the death of his Father Eduard in 1873): Fjodor Dimirijevitj Pleske.

Alt. in other languages; Fedor or Fëdor (in English), Theodor (in German), Theodore (in French) Eduardovich Pleske a k a (post-1873) ditto Dmitrievich/Dimitrivich Pleske.

Also see the version by КОРЕПОВА (2015), pp.13-14: "ПЛЕСКЕ Фёдор Эдуардович (Дмитриевич) (1858–1932)" [i.e. PLESKE Fedor Eduardovich (Dmitrievich) (1858-1932)]

Don´t hesitate to prove me wrong!

Björn

PS. At least this would explain why Slepkova (2007) had it the other way around/used the odd translation (? the names in brackets): "Fedor Dmitrievich (Theodor Eduard) Pleske".
--

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

PS - Using both at the same time is probably not an option.

I agree.

 

[Taphrospilus]

Something for James to ponder over alt. chew on ...

Thanks, Laurent, and well found! :t:

On top of that; doesn´t that Russian paper, by КОРЕПОВА 2015 (first link, post #5, pdf, pp.9-18), also gives us (for example); "ЧЕРСКИЙ Александр Иванович (1879–1921)" (that ought to be something like "Alexander Ivanovich Cherski/Tschersky"), on pp.16-17, who (in my mind!) ought to be a likely candidate for the one being commemorated in:

• the fairly obscure, invalid (if ever published?) "Dendrocopus japonicus tscherskii" BUTURLIN 1910

In today's Key explained as:I assume there´s far more info to find in those Russian pages, but like I said ... this is far, far out of my league. I gladly leave them all in more capable hands.

Mr. Karpov (on my part) ... over and out!

The claim of The Eponym Dictionary of Birds is:

Great Spotted Woodpecker ssp. Dendrocopos major tscherskii Buterlin 1910 NCR [NUI Dendrocopos major japonicus]
A. J. Tschersky (DNF) was a Russian zoologist and collector in Ussuriland, Siberia (1909).

.
I think it should be published in Nascha Ochota , July , 1910 , p . 53. but seems hard to find.

Unfortunately, I know no online source for this journal either.
The title of the journal is "Наша охота" in Russian -- I'd render it as "Nasha okhota" in our alphabet, in an English context at least. ("Nascha ochota" looks rather like an (old ?) German transliteration.) The note you're after is listed [here] (but no .pdf/.djvu) as:

Зарудный Н.А., Кудашев А.Е. Несколько слов о формах домашнего воробья (Passer domestica) // Наша охота, 1916, кн. 20, с. 37-38.​

[Zarudny N.A., Kudashev A.E. Some words on the forms of House Sparrow (Passer domestica). "Our Hunting", 1916 (20): 37-38.]

(I don't know if "domestica" was a typo that was introduced during the bibliographic compilation, or if it was in the original title as well. Also: 1916 was before the 1917 Russian spelling reform; the Russian title of the article above is in post-reform spelling, thus the original was presumably slightly different. Possibly: "Нѣсколько словъ о формахъ домашняго воробья".)

But it seems to exist here

 

[l_raty]

I think it should be published in Nascha Ochota , July , 1910 , p . 53. but seems hard to find.

This one actually happens to be online : https://zoomet.ru/failes/Buturlin-1910-R37.djvu

Такимъ образомъ, уссурійскія (и сахалинскія) птицы легко могутъ быть отличены отъ японскихъ, почему я и нахожунужным дать имъ особое назваиіе, D. japonicus tscherskii, въ честь энергичнаго коллектора А. И. Черскаго, собравшаго большую часть описываемой коллекціи.

("Thus, the Ussuri (and Sakhalin) birds can easily be distinguished from the Japanese ones, which is why I find it necessary to give them a special name, D. japonicus tscherskii, in honor of the energetic collector A. I. Cherskiy, who collected most of the described collection.")

Yes, this is quite clearly the "ЧЕРСКИЙ Александр Иванович (1879–1921)" of Korepova 2015.

But it seems to exist here

These are printed volumes offered for sale.

 

[Taphrospilus]

These are printed volumes offered for sale.

I understood this and just mentioned it as the journal was named as obscure, invalid and if ever published by Björn.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

I understood this and just mentioned it as the journal was named as obscure, invalid and if ever published by Björn.

Nope, Martin, if you'd read my post a bit more careful you would have seen that I sure didn't claim that the journal itself was neither; "obscure, invalid and if ever published", my similar words were only in reference to Buturlin's name/taxon; "Dendrocopus japonicus tscherskii" (of/in 1910).

The Journal itself is fairly well-known (with several issues seen, elsewhere).

👮‍♀️

B