Taxonomy

From time to time I get into taxonomic stories, most recently à propos of Darwin (see reference 1). I even own a splendid book from Belknap which purports to taxonomise the whole of life in a modest 300 pages, including lots of nice diagrams and pullouts (but no glossy pictures).

So I was interested to come across the long document illustrated left which instructed budding taxonomists on the protocols to be observed when giving names to newly invented plants and animals.

Clearly the days are long gone when could swan around the foothills of the Himalayas with a butterfly net, happily naming all of one's splendid finds after loved ones back home. Pets, places, mistresses or whatever. What was once a hobby has now been colonised by the bureaucrats.

The good news is that PLOS (for public library of science), appears to be a serious, successful, open access science publisher, the lack of which being something that I have moaned about in these pages from time to time. I think the idea is that authors pay a fee for (peer reviewed) publication but that fees are waived for the impoverished and access for the rest of us is free. See the about page at reference 2.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/a-darwinian-fest.html.

Reference 2: https://www.plos.org/.