Symbolae Physicae, seu icones et descriptiones corporum naturalium
novorum aut minus cognitorum quae ex itin eribus per Libyam
Aegyptum Nubiam Dongolam Syrian Arabiam et Habessianiam publico
institutis sumptu Friedrich Guilelmi Hemprich et christiani
Godofredi Ehrenberg Medicinae et Chirurgiae Doctorum...
Avium deca I
Ehrenberg, CG
1828-45
folio Berlin
Zimmer (from Cat Lib Br Mus (NH) ) says:
sigs a & b and all plates pub. 1828
all others (sigs. c-gg) appeared in 1833
I interp. that all entries listed "fol." is equvalent to "sig."
Bob Dowsett writes (2003.06.06):
[Begin Dowswett 2003.06.06]
'You will be interested to know that the NHM at Tring has a set of all 20 plates,
i.e. including those from the Decas secunda.
Alison Harding has most kindly confirmed that they hold the following:
"1) The first one has a title page which states it is 'Decas Prima'
and someone has added in pen 'et unica!'. At the bottom of the
title page in pen has been added 'Fol. a and b and all plates appeared in 1828,
the rest in 1833'.
(I do not know who wrote these annotations).
This volume has plates 1 to 10 only.
2) The other copy has no title page but has a handwritten 'title' -
'Symbolae Physicae seu Icones et Descriptiones corporum Naturalium Novorum
aut Minus Cognitorum quae ex itineribus per Libyam Aegyptium Nubiam, Dongalam,
Syriam, Arabiam et Haberssiniam publicio instituto sumptu.
Hemprich et Ehrenberg.
Pars Zooligica I.
Berolini ex Ifficina Academica 1828'
It has all 20 plates"
She gives me a list of plates XI-XX which corresponds exactly to that supplied by the
bookseller. This is presumably where Sclater got his information from, and I am waiting
to know whether there are also sets elsewhere (e.g. AMNH, Berlin or Stuttgart).
If it is agreed (as I think is the case) that this work was indeed distributed
(despite the booksellers' claim to the contrary) then we have earlier descriptions
for two Afrotropical taxa:
Centropus superciliosus (pl. XI)
Estrilda rufibarba (pl. XIII).
In neither case do the names change, but the authors become:
Hemprich & Ehrenberg (1829) rather than Hemprich & Ehrenberg (1833), and
Cabanis (1850) respectively.
[End Dowsett 2003.06.06]
Regarding the posited date of 1829, contra 1828, Dowsett's thinking as of 2003.06.07 is:
[Begin part of Dowsett 2003.06.07]
'The two people to have used this reference for Centropus superciliosus
gave different years:
1828 in W.L. Sclater's Syst. Av., and
1833 in Chapin's Bds of the Belgian Congo.
1829 is the date on the copy Steven's bookseller has on hand.
That copy is clearly Decas secunda, whereas one notes the title of the
NHM volume containing the full set of 20 plates is somewhat different.
Had XI-XX been distributed in 1828 (as were the first 10 plates) then one might
have thought people aware of the first 10 would know of the 2nd batch
(which clearly most people didn't).
So I think the choice is between a "certain" 1829 and a less so 1828,
and I would go for the later date. What do others think?
As for the different titles, the NHM copy being handwritten I don't think we can be
sure it is what covered the plates when distributed, rather than one [that] someone took
to be the composite title of the whole work.'
[End Dowsett 2003.06.07]
Steven Gregory is currently the primary investigator of this mystery and his explanations
are:
[Begin S.G. 2003.06.08.001]
"Bob appears to have introduced you to this particular loop without
explaining the background. Edward and I had a 'lively' discussion concerning
the correct authorship of the new names introduced by the Symbolae Physicae.
I argued that Zimmer was correct in stating that '...all of which must be
credited to Ehrenberg although most of them are initialled "H. et E." in the
text.' It turns out that all those initialled "E." alone are named
'hemprichi'. As well as the obvious fact of Hemprich's death in 1825 there
are some more subtle clues such as:
1). The portion of the title page dealing with authorship translates as
'establishing publication at the expense [publico institutis sumptu] of
F.G.Hemprich & C.G.Ehrenberg', but that it was 'magnificently and expensively published
by the surviving [superstes] Dr. C.G.Ehrenberg'. And
2). The names are introduced exclusively as footnotes, supporting my contention that
while Hemprich will have made extensive field notes later to be incorporated into the text,
he was unlikely to have named species 'on the spot' (there were 34,000 zoological
specimens collected!) and that the names, therefore, were inserted by
Ehrenberg prior to publication, and cited Art. 50.1 and Recommendation 50A
of the ICZN in support.
This is a condensation of a far larger
correspondence between just the two of us, the upshot of which is that we
appear to agree to differ on this subject, he is happy with H. & E. in E.,
and I with E. in H. & E. !!!
It was at this point, after a lot of digging around into this subject, that
I found that W.L.Sclater cited 'fol. R, pl. xi,' for Centropus superciliosus,
a plate which should not exist, and discovered a set of
plates for sale by Antiquariaat Melchior purporting to be the Decas Secunda,
plates XI-XX.
I attach here the e-mail concerning the names of these plates, and will
continue with an e-mail attaching scans of the two most interesting plates.
Each plates has in top left the text: "Zoologica I. Aves" and in top right the plate number.
On bottom right is the artist name (usually F. Burde),
sometimes on bottom left the engravers name.
Text to the plates:
XI. Centropus Superciliofus adultis
Arabia felix
XII Centropus Superciliofus juvenis
Arabia
A. Pes et rostrum adulti. B. idem juvenis.
XIII Fringilla
1 carduelis rufibarba
2 ------------ frenata
3 ------------ effrenata
ex Arabia meridionalis
XIV Vultur eulophus
Ex Habesfinia
XV Pterocles gulattus
1. mas 2. Femina ex Aegypti et Nubia desertis. 3. Femina e desertis Sinai
ticis Arabiae. 4. Ova ejustdem e Nubia. I. Ova ptedoris senegalensis. II
Ova Pteroclis bicintii
XVI Pterocles coronatus
1. mas 2. Femina e Nubia II. Femina ex Arabia petraea A. Ovia Nubii
XVII Ibis religiosa
I.Habefsinica maris rubri, mas adulta II. Aethiopica nili, mas juvenis. III ovum.
XVIII Ibis Hemprichii
Ex Arabia
XIX Falco
Falco schistaceus 1. Mas 2. Femina 3. Ovum
Ex insula Barcan Maris rubri
XX Corvus Stridens
Mas
Libanon
[End S.G. 2003.06.08.001]
[Begin S.G. 2003.06.08.002]
From available evidence so far a rough chronology would be:
1820-25 Expedition to North Africa and the Middle East
1825 Death of F.W.Hemprich in the field from malaria (no day or month
found), return of C.G.Ehrenberg with 34,000 zoological specimens.
1828 Start of publication of Symbolae Physicae (1828-1845 et supra)
Title
Subtitle
Text folios a and b (4 ll. or 8 pp).
Plates I-X (birds)
1829 Plates XI-XX (birds)
1833 Text half-folios c-i, k-u, x-z and aa-gg (28 ll or 56 pp).
The non-ornithological part of the work continued from this point.
Although referred to variously as 'signatures' and 'folios', strictly speaking the
first two parts (a and b) are superroyal folios, that is superroyal sheets
folded once, and the latter parts (c-gg) superroyal half-folios, that is
single leaves of the same size.
I must say that it seems entirely plausible that texts were released between
1829 and 1833, and not 'all at once' as the bibliographers have it, but that
this is probably now beyond any investigation unless a library somewhere has
retained proof of receipt. Bob Dowsett has taken up the running in this area
as he was the most enthused by my 'discovery'. As well as at the NHM, I believe
a complete set resides in Berlin, although I'm unsure which institution as the
internet description merely states 'Zoological Library',
[End S.G. 2003.06.08.002]
Hemprich died in the field during their labors,
Zimmer in attributed all taxa to Ehrenberg.
I have interpreted ICZN 50.1 (1999) to indicate that both authors should
stand for the authority but may change this yet again. (2003.06.08)
