The scientific names assigned to animals often have intriguing origins, which can be revealed by books in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ collections. The Pallas’s Cat of central Asia, for instance, is named after German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811), the first person to publish a detailed description of the animal. Although he was not fully aware that the curious creatures he had seen during his travels were a new species, Pallas’s account and his accompanying illustration were definitive enough to establish the foundation for the scientific record. Pallas spent much of his life in Russia, where he conducted expeditions in search of new and unusual animals and plants. In his account, Travels through the southern provinces of the Russian Empire in the years 1793 and 1794 (originally published in German in 1799-1801), he speculated that the mysterious felines known today as the Pallas’s Cat (Felis manul) were the half-wild offspring of a local nobleman’s pet:
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound
Happy holidays in 2008! All through 2008, the Smithsonian Libraries has been celebrating the 40th (Ruby) anniversary of the year (1968) that Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley created the Smithsonian more »
Today's scheduled lecture by Clay Shirky in NMNH's Kerby Room will be postponed due to a family emergency. We apologize for the inconvenience and will announce a new date and more »
In the town of Ujiji in what is now Tanzania, Henry Morton Stanley, sent by a New York newspaper to track down the missing Dr. David Livingstone, finally found the more »
Clay Shirky Finding Content as a Social Problem ~POSTPONED~ The lecture has been postponed. Please check back for new date and time!this lecture will also be recorded and the video more »
R. David Lankes Not Done Yet: Charting a New Course for Librarianship November 3, 2008 10:00-Noon, Ripley Center, Lecture Hall, Room 3027 ~~the lecture will also be webcast live ~~ more »
Roy Tennant Libraries in a Networked World October 23, 2008 10:00-Noon, Ripley Center, Lecture Hall, Room 3027 ~~the lecture will also be webcast live ~~ http://www.sil.si.edu/lectures_40th_Tennant.html Roy Tennant is an more »