Björn Bergenholtz
(former alias "Calalp")
Who is Grey (or Gray?) in Red-bellied Fruit-dove Ptilinopus greyii alt P. greyi (!?) BONAPARTE 1857?
There seem to be some contradictions in various sources regarding who he was!?
But ... before we start to quote different references: is there anyone out there who feel up to the task of translating the type description from French to English?
Here´s a transcription of it: Bonaparte, C. L. 1857. Iconographie des Pigeons ... Plate 20. :
And please don´t hesitate to remark on any typing errors, misapplications or other mistakes I might have done. Since I don´t know French I guess there could easily be a few ...
Original Work accessible at: http://nat.pictura-dp.nl/
Plate XX attached.
The following is cited from Alan P Peterson/Zoonomen http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/frame.html:
There seem to be some contradictions in various sources regarding who he was!?
But ... before we start to quote different references: is there anyone out there who feel up to the task of translating the type description from French to English?
Here´s a transcription of it: Bonaparte, C. L. 1857. Iconographie des Pigeons ... Plate 20. :
PTILOPUS GREYI, Bp. ex Gr.
LE PTILOPE DE GREY
Pl. XX
PTILOPUS minor; læte viridis; subtus cinereo-virens; …´
[ ]
PTILOPUS PURPURATUS, Bp. Consp., II, p. 19, sp. 1. – Id. Compt. rend. Acad. Sc., p. 7, et Tabl., p. 54, sp. 39, nec Auct.
PTILOPUS PURPURATUS, Gray, List of Spec. of Brit. Mus., 1856, p. 4, sp. 8.
GREY'S FRUIT PIGEON, Gray, loc. cit.
Nous avons eu tort dʼappeler Ptilopus purpuratus cette brilliante espèce rapportée, depuis 1829, de lʼile Vanikoro, au Muséum, par l'Astrolabe. Ce nʼest pas même la Columba purpurata de Wagler, et encore moins la purpurata de Gmelin et Latham. Plus courageux que nous, M. Gray vient dʼen faire une espèce nouvelle, d'après des individus des îles des Pins, déposés au Musée Britannique, et il ne nous reste plus quʼà adopter son nom de Ptilopus greyi. Cʼest en honneur du Gouverneur dʼune grand partie de lʼAustralie, bien connu par son amour pour la science, que ce nom, si semblable au sien propre, a été imposé à notre Pigeon par le savant Ornithologiste anglais. Cʼest par M. Mac Gillivray, fils de lʼélégant écrivain qui fut la providence dʼAudubon et contribua tant à sa gloire scientifique, mais surtout littéraire, par ce zélé naturaliste du vaisseau le Rattlesnake (Serpent à sonnettes), que cette espèce a été rapportée en Angleterre de lʼarchipel de la Loyauté (Loyalty Islands), comme par le gouverneur Gray, de lʼ îles des Pins.[/SIZE]
And please don´t hesitate to remark on any typing errors, misapplications or other mistakes I might have done. Since I don´t know French I guess there could easily be a few ...
Original Work accessible at: http://nat.pictura-dp.nl/
Plate XX attached.
The following is cited from Alan P Peterson/Zoonomen http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/frame.html:
Ptilinopus greyi Nomenclature
•This name is spelled, almost universally with a double -ii ending (greyii).
•Examination of the original work (on-line http://nat.pictura-dp.nl) shows the original spelling to be greyi both on the plate and in the text.
•Usually in cases such as this, the emendation results from authors following the CBBM, but remarkably in this instance CBBM 21:85 spells the name "Ptilinopus greyi", with the single -i ending! However confusion is added by the synonomy listing where the original description by Bonaparte is listed (with others) as "Ptilinopus greyii".
•In the original description, the only individuals mentioned in the text are named Gray, but as the name is cited to the plate, this fact may have no bearing on the matter.