more about scientific names - was Re: [Lexicog] Linnaean classifications in MDF

[Mike Maxwell]

Susan Gehr wrote:

> I'm tracking scientific names in the Karuk dictionary, and we've got entries
> for which the scientific names were acquired in the 1950's and earlier.
>
> I know that some names will have changed since then.

I don't know anything about the databases you mention.  But as for the
scientific names changing, I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised.
The whole purpose of the scientific name system is to decide on a name
once and for all, so that identifications will be clear, and scientific
literature written in different times and places will be comparable.
That isn't to say that they never make a mistake, but at least in the
case of living fauna (as opposed to fossils), mistakes are quite rare.
--
	Mike Maxwell
	Linguistic Data Consortium
	maxwell at ldc.upenn.edu



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