Pomacea paludosa (Say, 1829) Hand Colored Plate

Pomacea paludosa (Say, 1829) Hand Colored Plate

Ampullaria depressa Say, 1824** drawn by Miss Helen Lawson, engraved and printed by the Alexander Lawson firm, and colored by Miss Lawson. From Haldeman, S. S., 1845. A monograph of the freshwater univalve Mollusca of the United States: including notices of species in other parts of North America. No. 8 Ampullaria (pl. 1).

Aside from her plates in Binney's Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mollusks of the United States [
See: Euglandina rosea plate], a substantial part of Helen Lawson's extant work was produced for Pennsylvania conchologist and entomologist Samuel Stehman Haldeman (1812-1880), in A Monograph of the Freshwater Univalve Mollusca of the United States. A member of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (ANSP), Haldeman was likely steered to the Lawson family as the foremost scientific illustrators in that city. Helen's reputation for producing miniatures and sketches from nature with great perfection was an asset, because Haldeman's specimen shells rarely exceeded an inch in length. Haldeman's monograph contained a total of 39 plates; Helen colored and drew the plates, which were then engraved by Alexander and Oscar Lawson (Helen's brother). The foremost society for natural history research in that era, ANSP members favored Alexander Lawson's engraving establishment. When the Academy's vice president George Ord republished Wilson's Ornithology, he reportedly paid Helen and her sister Malvina $5,000 to color its plates of birds, an almost unheard of sum for two young girls to earn. Praise for Helen's work was given by many. Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), editor of the American Journal of Science and Arts, noted that the illustrations for Haldeman's Monograph "are so perfect as certainly leave nothing to be desired." Augustus A. Gould (1805-1866), eminent conchologist of the Boston Society of Natural History, wrote to Haldeman: "I looked at the beautiful pictures till my eyes were dazzled and then read the text." Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) wrote to a friend that "if [America] had such artists among [its people] as the author of those drawings, he [it] need bring no one from Europe to aid his [its] interesting mission of science."

** The name Ampullaria depressa Say, 1824 is unavailable as it is a primary junior homonym of A. depressa Lamarck, 1804 [a Middle Eocene marine moonsnail-like fossil and type of the genus Ampullina Bowdich, 1822 (now Campaniloidea: Ampullinidae)]. Five years later, Say realized his name was preoccupied and replaced it with Ampullaria paludosa Say, 1829. The type material for A. depressa (and thus A. paludosa) is at the ANSP, where Clench and Turner (1956: 121) designated no. 50580 the lectotype.

Clench, W. J. and R. D. Turner, 1956. Freshwater mollusks of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida from the Escambia to the Suwannee River. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 1(3): 97-239 incl. 9 plates. Sept.

Haldeman, S. S., 1842-1845 [1840-1871]. A monograph of the freshwater univalve Mollusca of the United States: including notices of species in other parts of North America. J. Robson, Philadelphia. 231 pp. + 40 pls. (colored with duplicate B&W). [No. 1, 1840. Paludina. pp. 1-16, pls. 1-5, Suppl. to No. 1, 1840. pp. 1-3; No. 2, 1841. Paludina. pp. 17-32, pls. 6-10; No. 3, 1841. Limnea. pp. 1-16, pls. 1-5; No. 4, 1842. Limnea. pp. 17-32, pls. 6-10; No. 5, 1842. Limnea. pp. 33-55, pls. 11-15; No. 6, 1842 [1843]. Physadae. pp. 1-40, pls. 1-5; No. 7, 1844. Planorbis. pp. 1-32, pls. 1-4, Ancylids. pp. 1-14, pl. 1, index to Physadae, 2 pp.; No. 8, 1845. Amnicola. pp. 1-24, pl. 1, Ampullaria. pp 1-11, pls. 1-2, Valvata. pp 1-11, pl. 1; No. 9, 1871. Paludina. pp. 33-36, pl. 11, index to Turbidae, corrections, contents, pp. 41-43].

Kabat, A. R., 1991. The classification of the Naticidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) Review and Analysis of the supraspecific taxa. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 152( 7): 417-449, 3 tables.

Lamarck, J. B. P. A. de M. de, 1804. Mémoires sur les fossiles des environs de Paris (suite 4) – Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle tome V: 28-36, 91-98, 179-188, 237-245, 349-357 (p. 32; vélin 20, fig. 6).

Say, T., 1824. Mollusca; Appendix to Major Long's second expedition to the source of the St. Peter's River .... vol 2. Philadelphia. (p. 264).

Say, T., 1829. Descriptions of some new terrestrial and fluviatile shells of North America. The New Harmony disseminator of useful knowledge 3: 260. Aug. 26.