McNeely and all:

Thanks for this; it hits close to home, if only a ricochet. Fond (but faded) 
memories of my main contact with Hubbs. A bunch of locals were asked to 
evaluate the site of the coming Wild Animal Park of the San Diego zoo (now 
called the San Diego Zoo "Safari Park." I had a 1968 Ford Bronco, and somehow 
it turned out that Hubbs rode with me as we drove all over the property. The 
date must have been in the early '70's. I was astounded at his breadth of 
knowledge. He identified a few scraps of bivalve shell a few hundred feet away, 
so practiced was his eye. My wife used his work on Mytilus sp. in her midden 
research in Baja California. Hubbs hair was jet black. Only his hairdresser 
would know for sure, but I doubt he had one. 

Ian Player had been consulted and had recommended a network of "tunnels" be 
incorporated into the large acreages where several species were to roam "free." 
Both Hubbs and I thought it was a helluva good idea, and we (together with 
several people from the San Diego Natural History Museum) based our report on 
the assumption that Player's idea would be accepted. I incorporated a 
complimentary idea to create "islands" of vegetation that would be staggered 
across the slopes to trap silt from the inevitable erosion, enclosed with 
moveable barriers (elephant- and rhino-resistant) that would have vegetation 
that could be trampled and eaten and serve as shade and cover for smaller 
animals, both free and captive. 

We prepared an extensive report, but we (or at least I) weren't permitted to 
present it in person or to answer questions. The Zoo director (Charles 
Schroder, if I remember correctly) rejected the idea and opted instead for a 
monorail, a much more expensive option. Every time there is a fuss about the 
erosion problem it's all I can do to tell 'em I told 'em so. The rumor was that 
Schroder was a real dictator. Years later, when I told an astounded if not 
enraged Chuck Faust the story, he wanted to see a copy of the report, but I 
hadn't kept one. 

Hubbs had a great secretary, Betty Shor, who organized all his publications and 
kept meticulous records, all neatly filed away in banks of wooden pigeonholes. 
Hubbs died later in the seventies, in his eighties, but when I saw him, even on 
one or two occasions after our trip. If you requested a reprint, you might be 
reminded that you had requested the same reprint several years past. 

I'll share a story (as best I can remember it) about Jordan, told by Ray 
Gilmore (at the time curator of marine mammals for the Natural History Museum). 
Jordan and a colleague were walking across campus one day when a student asked 
Dr. Jordan a question, which, upon answering, Jordan asked the student's name. 
Jordan's colleague asked him why he didn't remember his student's names. Jordan 
replied, "Every time I remember the name of a student, I forget the name of a 
fish!" 

WT


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David L. McNeely" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] David Starr Jordan Indiana U Re: [ECOLOG-L] Jordan's 
rule


Why do people keep posting things that seem as if the matter is a bit 
equivocal.  It is not.  "Jordan's Rule" refers to David Starr Jordan's work 
with meristic features of fishes.  It was almost certainly so named by his star 
student, Carl Hubbs.  The references I posted earlier should clear the matter 
up for those for whom it is not clear (it is clear to me), and if pursued, 
likely would definitively answer the original question in favor of Carl Hubbs.  
That original question was not for whom was the rule named, but by whom was the 
term coined.

David McNeely

---- Susan Kephart <[email protected]> wrote: 
> The last few posts all lead to the same path.. I"m not an expert on all 
> Jordan's accomplishments as I work w. plants, but Indiana University should 
> have quite a digest on him since that's where he worked for many years. One 
> of the biology buildings there is named after him
> 
> S
> 
> On Aug 29, 2012, at 8:02 AM, Chava Weitzman wrote:
> 
> > How about this one:  Jordan, D.S. (1892) Relations of temperature to
> > vertebrae among fishes. Proceedings of the United States National Museum,
> > 1891, 107–120.
> > 
> > Cited in:
> > R. M. McDowall. 2007. Jordan’s and other ecogeographical rules, and the
> > vertebral number in fishes.  Journal of Biogeography.
> > http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01823.x/full
> > Chava
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 7:25 AM, Jan Ygberg <[email protected]> wrote:
> > 
> >> Dear all
> >> 
> >> Maybe this one? :
> >> 
> >> 
> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_algebra
> >> 
> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascual_Jordan
> >> 
> >> Cheers
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Jan H. N. Ygberg
> >> Public Relations
> >> Resident Naturalists Programme Coordinator
> >> 
> >>                                 EXPLORER'S INN
> >>                                           in the
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> >> Twitter: @explorersinn
> >> 
> >> 2012/8/28 Philippe Golay <[email protected]>
> >> 
> >>> Dear all,
> >>> 
> >>> do you know who coined the expression « Jordan’s rule » or « Jordan’s
> >> law »
> >>> (fish species develop more vertebrae in a cold environment than in a warm
> >>> one) ?
> >>> 
> >>> Thank you in advance.
> >>> Truly yours.
> >>> 
> >>> Philippe
> >>> 
> >>> SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
> >>> 
> >>> Philippe GOLAY
> >>> elapsoïdea
> >>> 21, chemin du Moulin
> >>> CH – 1233 Bernex
> >>> tel : +41(0)22 7771131
> >>> mail : [email protected]
> >>> 
> >>> SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
> >>> L’autre jour, au fond d’un vallon, Un serpent piqua Jean Fréron. Que
> >>> pensez-vous qu’il arriva? Ce fut le serpent qui creva.. (Voltaire,
> >> Poésies
> >>> mêlées)
> >>> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> --
> >> 

--
David McNeely


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