The mysterious Miss Gillett

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

Another interesting spin. Of course this interpretation is contingent on the
assumption that Barnes understood genitives and such.  One would assume that
Barnes did the naming strictly in accordance with the 'rules' of the day,
but that too is an assumption.  Anyone know where more info on Barnes could
be found or if any of his papers survive in paper archives somewhere

-----Original Message-----
From: Will Cook [mailto:cwcook at duke.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 10:05 AM
To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: The mysterious Miss Gillett


If I remember my Latin correctly, gillettii is the genitive of
gillettius, which is a masculine noun.  If Euphydryas gillettii were
named after Miss Jessie Gillett, her name (I think) would have been
Latinized to gillettia and formed the genitive gillettiae.  Since
gillettii is masculine, I suspect the butterfly is named after Mr.
Gillette.

"Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX" wrote:
> 
> This discussion on the english name for Euphydryas gillettii shows the
> advantages of getting multiple people digging for "the facts".  Ken Philip
> points out that Miss Jessie D. Gillett of Elkhart, Illinois was a patron
of
> Barnes.  It would make far more sense to think that the butterfly was
named
> after a patron rather than someone else.  Cliff Ferris provided the
> following commentary:
> "Gillette's . . ." was used in the Rocky Mtn. book.  The U. of Okla. Press
> editor insisted that common names be included, and I don't recall who came
> up with the name (F. M. Brown or me).  It is also possible that the copy
> editor "corrected" the spelling "Gillett" to "Gillette."
> 
> In any case, there seems to be a misconception about for whom the
latinized
> name is a patronym (based on the comments that I received from Ken).
> Clarence P. Gillette [the correct spelling] was an entomologist at what is
> now Colorado State University.  He was an aphid taxonomist, and he
> established what is now the "C. P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod
Diversity."
> I am quite familiar with the Museum and visited it yesterday.
> 
> I am sure that the b'fly's name is a patronym for Miss Jessie D. Gillett
of
> Elkhart, Illinois.  She was the publication patroness of many of the
issues
> of the Barnes et al. series:  "Contributions to the Natural History of the
> Lepidoptera of North America."  She is acknowledged at the front of many
of
> the issues.
> Since the TL for the b'fly is Yellowstone N.P. in Wyoming, it's rather
> doubtful that C. P. Gillette, a Colorado aphid specialist, had any
> connection with Barnes or the b'fly."
> So all this leaves me thinking that Gillett's Checkerspot is the correct
> spelling and that the butterfly was named after Miss Gillett of Illinois.
> Tune in next week, who knows what other interesting biohistory may yet
turn
> up :-) -- anyone have any further biographical info on Jessie Gillett and
> what interest she may have had in butterflies ??
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
> Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
> 845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
> Phone 250-365-8610
> Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca
> http://www.env.gov.bc.ca
> 
> 
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