Mammalia

Low, Martyn E. Y. & Evenhuis, Neal L., 2014, Additional dates of Sir Andrew Smith’s Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa, Zootaxa 3795 (4), pp. 483-488 : 485-486

Mammalia plates and Scotophilus dinganii (Smith)

Barnard (1950: 188) and Waterhouse (1880: 489, 490) listed a total of 51 plates for the Mammalia (viz., 1–8, 8 bis, 8–17, 19–36, 38–52). Plates 18 and 37 were not published ( Barnard 1950: 188; 1952: 408; Jentink 1893: 182; Waterhouse 1880: 489; and index to Mammalia volume).

Barnard (1952: 408) clarified that there were a total of 52 Mammalia plates. The bound Mammalia volume contains 52 plates and an unnumbered index to the Mammalia volume (bound at the front of the volume we have examined), also lists 52 plates (1–17, 19–36, 38–53; 8 bis is not listed). The plate captions are numbered 1–8, 8 bis, 8–17, 19–36, 38–53.

The date of publication of the last plate (the 52nd which was numbered as “53”) is not known and therefore cannot be placed in our table. The caption accompanying the plate states “ Scotophilus dinganii .—Smith. Mammalia.—Plate LIII. … Vespertilio Dinganii, Smith. —South African Quarterly Journal, New Series, vol. i. 1832 ”. As the name Vespertilio dinganii was first made available in Smith (1833: 59) which antedates the Mammalia in the Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa ( Smith 1838 –1849a), we see no need to seek an accurate date of publication for this plate.

It should also be noted that Nissen (1968: 385) stated that Mammalia plate 22 was not printed and that plate 23 was doubled. No other workers have mentioned this change in the Mammalia plates.