The Malacological Society of London is a British learned society and charitable organisation concerned with malacology, the study of molluscs, a large phylum of invertebrate animals divided into nine or ten taxonomic classes, of which two are extinct.
Founded in 1893, the society was one of the earliest such national bodies anywhere in the world concerned only with molluscs, although the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland is older.
The society was founded in 1893 "to advance education, research and learning for the public benefit in the study of Mollusca from both pure and applied aspects". [1] The society's first president was Henry Woodward. [2]
On 15 September 1901 the society lost its secretary, Martin Fountain Woodward, who was drowned when a boat he was travelling in capsized off the coast of County Galway while he was in temporary charge of the marine biological laboratory of the Fisheries Board for Ireland at Innisbofin. [3]
Founding members included the zoologist and malacologist E. A. Smith, president of the society from 1901 to 1903, [4] and J. R. le B. Tomlin, who named more than a hundred taxa of gastropod molluscs [5] and architect Henry William Burrows. [6] Another notable early member was the geologist Caroline Birley, who joined the society in 1894. [7] Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen (1834–1923), author of The Land and Freshwater Mollusca of India (1882–1887) and George Bond Howes (1853–1905) were early presidents of the society, [8] and M. W. K. Connolly, who published some fifty papers on molluscs, was a member of the society from 1908 to 1938 and was president of the Conchological Society in 1930. [9] The Australian naturalist Charles Hedley was a vice-president of the society from 1923 until his death in 1926. [10] Ronald Winckworth, a member since 1919, served as the society's editor and went on to be its president from 1939 to 1942. [11]
Molluscs range in size from cephalopods such as the octopus and giant squid to microscopic gastropod snails, and the society is concerned with some 85,000 recognised extant species, which include 23 per cent of all named marine organisms as well as molluscs living in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. It is also interested in the species (including those of the two extinct classes of molluscs) preserved as fossils, which creates a relationship with the study of geology. [12]
In association with the Oxford University Press, the society publishes the Journal of Molluscan Studies , previously called Proceedings of the Malacological Society, and Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, an international journal to disseminate new research work on molluscs, and also a bulletin, The Malacologist, for its own members, to which there is free access on the society's web site. [1] [13]
The society organises meetings and symposia and seeks to advance education about and awareness of molluscs. It gives prizes for contributions in its field and makes awards to students (and also to others who are not employed) to enable them to travel and research malacological subjects. [1]
An annual Malacological Society "Molluscan Forum" takes place at the Natural History Museum, London, with the 14th held in November 2011. An informal event, this is intended to bring together people beginning mollusc research, whether palaeontological, physiological, ecological, morphological, systematic, or molecular, with time for presentations and discussions. Attendance is open to all, at no charge, but those wishing to give presentations should be students engaged on molluscan projects or amateurs with substantial unpublished work. [14]
The society has been registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales since 1978, with the registration number 275980. [1] [15]
Membership of the society is open to all by subscription, with three classes of members, student members, ordinary members and honorary members, of whom there can be no more than five at any one time. [16]
The society's affairs are managed by a council consisting of officers and members elected at annual general meetings. Six elected members of the council, who are called councillors, serve for three years each, with two vacancies arising every year. The officers are a president, two vice-presidents, an honorary secretary and an honorary treasurer, a membership secretary, the editor of the journal and the editor of The Malacologist, an awards officer, and a web manager. Up to four additional members of the council can be co-opted. [16] [17]
The library of the Society was deposited in University College London in 1930. [18] The library comprises circa. 500 volumes from the 16th century onwards. [18] It includes a first edition of Georges Cuvier's work Anatomie des mollusques which contains Cuvier's own woodblock library stamp and inscription. [19]
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Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca, the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, and cephalopods, along with numerous other kinds, many of which have shells. Malacology derives from Ancient Greek μαλακός (malakós) 'soft', and -λογία (-logía).
Conchology is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includes the study of land and freshwater mollusc shells as well as seashells and extends to the study of a gastropod's operculum.
Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen FRS FZS FRGS MBOU, known until 1854 as Henry Haversham Austen, was an English topographer, surveyor, naturalist and geologist.
Sir Charles Norton Edgcumbe Eliot was a British diplomat, colonial administrator and botanist. He served as Commissioner of British East Africa in 1900–1904. He was British Ambassador to Japan in 1919–1925.
Henry Bolingbroke Woodward was an English geologist and paleontologist known for his research on fossil crustaceans and other arthropods.
The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland is a British-based society concerned with the study of molluscs and their shells. It was founded in 1876, and is one of the oldest such societies in the world. It is a registered UK charity that anyone can join. It promotes the study of molluscs and their conservation, through meetings, publications, workshops, field meetings, and distribution recording schemes.
Henry Augustus Pilsbry was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a century. For much of his career, his authority with respect to the classification of certain substantial groups of organisms was unchallenged: barnacles, chitons, North American terrestrial mollusks, and others.
Edgar Albert Smith was a British zoologist, a malacologist.
Arthur William Baden Powell was a New Zealand malacologist, naturalist and palaeontologist, a major influence in the study and classification of New Zealand molluscs through much of the 20th century. He was known to his friends and family by his third name, "Baden".
Ranella is a genus of large warm-water and tropical sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Ranellidae, the tritons.
Henry Suter was a Swiss-born New Zealand zoologist, naturalist, palaeontologist, and malacologist.
Hydrobia acuta neglecta is a European subspecies of small brackish water snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Hydrobiidae.
John Read le Brockton Tomlin was a British malacologist. He was one of the founders of the Malacological Society of London and was president of the Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland on two separate occasions.
Matthew William Kemble Connolly was a British army officer and malacologist.
Shintarō Hirase was a Japanese malacologist. His father, Yoichirō Hirase, (1859–1925) was also a malacologist. With his father, he collected shells and helped formalize malacology in Japan. Due to their contributions to malacology, numerous species bear the Hirase name, such as Conus hirasei,.
The Journal of Molluscan Studies is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Malacological Society of London, covering research in malacology.
Bernard Barham Woodward was a British malacologist and author of a catalogue of the works of Carl Linnaeus. He was a member of staff at the British Museum and then the Natural History Museum.
Leucorhynchia crossei is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Skeneidae.
Arthur Erskine Ellis, often known as A.E. Ellis, was a British scientist, biologist and naturalist. Ellis is best known for his large number of malacological publications, including some which became essential texts on the subject of British non-marine malacology. To a lesser extent, Ellis published papers about other land invertebrates and various aspects of the fauna and flora of Britain. In addition Ellis had five ghost stories published.
Goniodoris kolabana is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Goniodorididae.
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