Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 17:17:18 -0600 From: Michael Vanecek <mike@mjv.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3706$foo@default> Subject: Re: Origins of the name "Dionaea"
Looks like he was drunk and mixed his latin up. Because of that we're
calling a plant Dionaea muscipula rather than Dionaea muscaria - I
wonder how many other slips there are in the naming convention...
"Richard L. Wagner" wrote:
>
>
> > Muscipula derives from "mus" and "capio". Mus means "mouse" and
> > capio means "I capture", so the plant is in fact Venus's Mousetrap,
> > not, I say again, not flytrap (which would have to be written in
> > Latin as "muscaria"). John Ellis attempted to popularise the plant
> > as Venus's Mousetrap although he personally published both Venus's
> > Fly Trap and Venus's Mouse Trap as "trivial" names before anyone
> > else did, but for reasons we no longer know this name never became
> > popular, so we are stuck with the name flytrap.
>
>
> Does this mean that the common housefly, Musca domestica was also
> named after the mouse?
>
> Dick Wagner
-- Cheers, Mikehttp://dotfile.net/ mailto:info@dotfile.net <-------------------------------------------------> "My zeal to start using Linux is stronger than my fear of looking like a dummy." --Some Wise Man <-------------------------------------------------> Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God....I could be eating a slow learner.
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