Re: Misspellings
robert korfhage (korfhage@lis.pitt.edu)
Wed, 1 May 96 21:03:48 EDT
As a rank amateur jumping into the fray, I find it useful to keep track of
misspellings in my database, hopefully identifying the proper spelling
correctly. Otherwise I sometimes would be at a loss to know if what I'm
reading about is a different species, or a misspelling of one that I've
already seen. Missing, added, or transposed letters are quite common, and
I usually can make a pretty good guess as to which is the correct spelling.
Another common problem is the misuse of Latin endings -- e.g., 'variegata'
versus 'variegatus'. I find this sort of thing very frequently, and never
having studied Latin, let alone botanical Latin, I am often at a loss as to
which is correct. So I try to keep my best guess as to the correct one as
the name I use, with the alternative misspellings in brackets.
Bob Korfhage
p.s. On another topic entirely...bogs in planters. Someone suggested
creating minibogs in this way, and including a drainage tube, so I tried it.
So far it is working fine, except for one interesting problem. I have always
"known" that one needs to start a siphon, or keep the tube full with the
water level in the exit end below the water level in the entrance end. But
apparently the tubing I'm using (from an aquarium shop) is small enough that
capillary action is taking place, for I've found that my siphon tube starts
itself automatically -- slowly at first, but eventually a full run of water
out of the tube. Had to clean up the mess on the kitchen floor :-)