Dear all,
As far as I know this problem (arbitrary labelling of one syntype as the type of the species) will not affect the annelid collections in the Natural History Museum, London.
Before the Second World War, the type specimens of annelids were mixed in with the non-type specimens. At the outbreak of the war, it was decided to send the TYPES away to caves near London so they would not be lost if the BM(NH) were bombed. When I arrived at the Museum, it looked as though someone had marked the type jars with red, and then gone round again and marked all their favourites with red so they would be taken to the caves and saved too. After the war, various jars would have been re-used without the red paint being removed, of course. However, I don't believe the labels were rewritten (even if the label went black and mouldy and fell off the outside of the jar in the damp cave it was often just put inside the jar under alcohol without being rewritten).
Anyway, the important part of the annelid collection (the polychaetes) has been looked at by David George, Shirley Stone, Paul Belton and me since then, and I hope one day (before I retire?) the NHM polychaete types will be fully listed on the web.
No panic then,
Alex Muir
P.S. I agree with Kristian Fauchald's comment!
Mr. A.I. Muir,
Polychaete Research Group, Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, LONDON SW7 5BD, UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5567 Fax:+44 (0)20 7942 5054
http://www.nhm.ac.uk//research-curation/staff-directory/zoology/cv-5565.html
