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Grafisia (1 Viewer)

S

Susan Manchester

Well-known member
Jobling and Zoonomen say that this genus is named for Dr H Graf, German herpetologist who collected in Cameroon. He wrote a book with a Dr M Kohler. According to the translation, Kohler is the doctor and there is no doctor in front of Graf's name. Does anyone know anything more about H Graf, such as his first name? It sounds like he did a lot of collecting in Cameroon, so I don't know why there is not more about him out there.
 
You sure manage to come up with un-googleable things, don't you? "Graf" is a German title meaning "Count" so if you search for Graf you get all kinds of pages about minor German royalty.

However if you search for "graf herpetologist" you do get a lot of pages containing herpetologists named Graf. I didn't see anything obviously answering your question, but then I didn't look in most of the pages. More detailed review of the pages might turn something up.
 
mentioned as Dr. H Graf on pg 144 in The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles, Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson (found on Google Books).

I would also not be surprised if mb1848 can find more ...

Niels
 
Susan Manchester said:
Jobling and Zoonomen say that this genus is named for Dr H Graf, German herpetologist who collected in Cameroon. He wrote a book with a Dr M Kohler. According to the translation, Kohler is the doctor and there is no doctor in front of Graf's name. Does anyone know anything more about H Graf, such as his first name? It sounds like he did a lot of collecting in Cameroon, so I don't know why there is not more about him out there.
Click to expand...

You could look here:

Amphibien aus Kamerun, Senckenbergiana Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen gesammelt
von M. Köhler und Dr. H. Graf. Der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 22(3-4):
103-135.

Didn't look for this myself.
 
I think we should follow Dean Amadon (1943) and merge Grafisia back into Spreo, that would solve this problem. Some other fellow said: “ I prefer to keep Grafisia out of Spreo because M2 is more advanced in Grafisia than in Spreo.” The machine-robot who translated the German mixed up the titles. There is a Herrn Dr. H. Graf. The other fellow is Max(? I think) Köhler. Not a Doktor. I cannot find the Senckenbergiana online nor can I find the BBOC Bates 1926 article on line either. Bicycle Repair Man, I’ll never tell.

My best guess is this is possibly Dr. Hugo Graf who was a Commissar for the Government of Kamerun ~ 1919:

Hugo Graf von und zu Lerchenfeld auf Köfering und Schönberg, . 5.100: . .... 1911 Promotion ( Dr. jur. ) 1911 sächs. Gerichtsassessor. 1912 Kolonialdienst. 1919 kommissarischer Bezirksamtmann beim Gouvernement Kamerun.

Max Köhler collected in West Africa with Dr. H. Graf for Naturmuseum Senkenberg Frankfurt . Cnemapsis koehleri was named for him by Mertens in 1937. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles By Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson.
http://www.talking-naturally.co.uk/bo-beolens-grumpy-birder-28 .
 
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mb1848 said:
I cannot find the Senckenbergiana online nor can I find the BBOC Bates 1926 article on line either.
Click to expand...



Reference to BBOC for 1926 reveals that Bates said precisely nothing concerning the etymology of the name Grafisia.
 
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Thanks Guy, Theo & Daniel. I am unsure now about Dr. Hugo Graf as the information came from one of those Google farm websites and I do not think now that he has a connection to Cameroon. I did see that Mertens in 1937 did call Max Köhler, Max Köhler-Hütte. Which means a charburner hut??? So now I am looking for a Hans, Hermann, or Heinrich Graf with a connection to charburners or Cameroon or Togo.
 
mb1848, is the Count you mention the same as the Count Hugo von Lerchenfeld who was the Prime Minister of Bavaria from 1921-1922. I cannot find anything that mentions him being the Commissar of Kamerun in 1919. The only thing I find about his political positions tells of him being in Bavaria, German Poland and Hessen. Also, Kamerun was not a German colony after 1918 when World War I ended. Where did you find the quote you put in your reply about the positions he filled in 1911 and 1919? Bicycle Repair Man???
 
I left this forum open overnight, and it was not until I posted my inquiry that the other answers popped up. I got an answer to my question about Count Hugo, and I also got an opportunity to watch the Bicycle Man video (for which I will forever be grateful!). Daniel, is Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Volume 22 what I am looking for? I just wanted to get an idea of the right place to look, because this is in German, and it is difficult enough for me to wade through if it is the right place to look, without it being the wrong place. I am so grateful to all of you who chimed in on this discussion!
 
Susan, I hardly believe you can find your answers in Senckenbergiana. The correct volume is scanned by Google Books, but it is still copyrighted material (not old enough). And googling Dr.H.Graf will give zillions of results because of his name Graf (Count). You get H.Graf von Blahblah as a result.

I suggest you send an e-mail with your inquiries to someone at the Senckenberger Museum (you can find this museum on the internet). I remember vaguely that Dr. Graf once was a member of the staff of this museum, but I'm unsure about this. But it is certain that he once worked for this museum, so they should have some data at least.

Theo
 
Susan Manchester said:
Daniel, is Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Volume 22 what I am looking for?
Click to expand...

Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft is a Natural History Society named after Johann Christian Senckenberg (1707-1772).
They launched a journal named Senckenbergiana in 1918 (first issue published in 1919) which was replaced by Senckenbergiana biologica and Senckenbergiana lethaea in 1954. Both ended in 2008.

The article where the name of Graf was mentioned is : Mertens, R. (1940): Amphibien aus Kamerun, gesammelt von M. Köhler und Dr. H. Graf. –. Senckenbergiana, 22: 103-135.
On most web pages it is said that the journal is Senckenbergiana Biologica, but this is obviously wrong.
Anyway, I am not sure there is more on Dr Graf in this article and probably nothing on Grafisia named after him.

On the other hand Guy Kirwan said (post 7 above) that « Reference to BBOC for 1926 reveals that Bates said precisely nothing concerning the etymology of the name Grafisia. »
So where did James Jobling find the correlation then ?

I am asking …
 
George Latimer Bates made extensive collections of birds and mammals in Africa which are now in the Natural History Museum. He published Handbook of the Birds of West Africa, London 1930, and the Museum libraries hold two volumes of his manuscript notes on the birds of West Africa. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History).: Historical series: Volume 4, Issue 2. Perhaps the link to Dr. H. Graf is made in that book only four years after his raising this genus, Grafisia.
 
You have all given me so much to research and think about! I am very grateful for your thoughtful answers to my inquiry! Theo, I tried sending an e-mail to the museum, but I have not gotten a response back. I am now going to try the lead mb1848 presented. Daniel, when I looked up Grafisia in Zoonomen, it just said that it was named for Graf. I am not sure where Jobling got the Dr. H. either. I guess Jobling is not a pristine reference, either, because I found another mistake in his information today.
 
mb1848, is there any place that I can go online, and read the notes George Latimer Bates wrote about the birds of West Africa? I found that reference you listed above in the the Bulletin of the British Museum, and I thought that would direct me to the notes online, but it did not.
 
Daniel Philippe said:
Here is what I got from the Museum:

On June 8th 1848 they registered a donation from M. Mercier :
- 93 plants from the Marquesian Is
- 38 plants from Brazil and Chile

Not Marie Philippe Mercier 1781-1831 who travelled in Martinique and stayed in Geneva
Not Elysée Mercier de Copey 1802-1863, botanist from Genes.
And there are no other Mercier in the archives.
Click to expand...

Daniel,
Either I am totally in the fog, or you might have responded to the subject of another thread, in this thread?

Maybe you wanted this thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223484
 
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