Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2001, Page 106

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BRACHIOPODA IN THE FAROE ISLANDS AREA
The Faroe Brachiopoda was listed (No.
326) by Mohr as ”Anomia retusa, l.c.”.
There is no indication of how many speci-
mens or a more specific location, and the
ship carrying the samples was unfortunate-
ly wrecked. Mohr also intended to write the
natural history of the Faroes, but this work
was never published and both the manu-
script and the material have disappeared
(Rostrup, 1870-71); hence it has not been
possible to verify his identification. Ac-
cording to Morch (1867), it is not the bra-
chiopod Terebratulina retusa that is listed
by Mohr, but an Anomia, i.e. a bivalve.
Since no facts to support this were present-
ed by Morch (who based his paper on stud-
ies of collections and literature), Mohr's
first record of Faroe brachiopoda must be
regarded cum grano salis.
Mohr communicated his findings to O.F.
Míiller, who included some of them in his
work from 1776 with reference to the
Faroes and/or Mohr (e.g. No. 2997 Pecten
opercularis). There is, however, no such
reference in connection with the descrip-
tion of No. 3000 ”Anomia retusa»”. Thus,
Morch (1867) probably cited the first bra-
chiopod record from the Faroes, i.e. the
rhynchonellid ”Rhynchonella rostrum psit-
taci Chemn.” referring to Lyell (1842 No.
14 ”Terebratula psittacea, var.”) presenting
yet another dubious record. Perhaps Morch
was aware of the uncertain nature of this
record as the species (No. 180) was indicat-
ed as not present (0) at the Faroe Islands in
a list in the very same paper summarising
the individual species. (The present investi-
gation, however, indicates that the species,
now Hemithiris psittacea, may occur north
of the Faroe Islands).
However, H. Miiller, Sysselmand (Gov-
emor) of the Faroe Islands, was a keen col-
lector and provider of material for the mu-
seum collections in Copenhagen and thus
enabled Morch to publish an addendum to
the 1867 paper the following year. This pa-
per listed (No. 20) a terebratulid brachio-
pod 'Terebratulina caput serpentis L. (Car-
penter & Thomson 1868)”. The addendum
”Carpenter & Thomson 1868” probably in-
dicates that Dr. W. B. Carpenter and Pro-
fessor Sir C. Wyville Thomson were re-
sponsible for the recovery and/or determi-
nation of the brachiopod (now T. retusa).
Both scientists undertook oceanographic
investigations off the Faroe Islands in con-
nection with the British expedition with
HMS ”Lightning” in 1868 (Rice, 1986) and
met Miiller during a one-week stay in Tór-
shavn (Thomson, 1874). Thomson (1874)
i.a. gave the first description of the rela-
tionship between brachiopods and sub-
strate on the continental shelf off the Faroe
Islands: ”The bottom was chiefly small
rounded pebbles of the dark anamesite of
the Færoes, and sticking to them, singly or
in little groups like plums on their stems,
were many large specimens ofthe rare bra-
chiopod Terebratula cranium, O.F. Miiller,
along with abundance of the commoner
form Terebratulina caput-serpentis, L.”
Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys was also associat-
ed with the expeditions with HMS "Light-
ning” and the ”sister” expeditions with
HMS «Porcupine» (during 1868-69). Jef-
freys (1878) also listed the aforementioned
brachiopod, ”Terebratulina caput-serpen-
tis, Linne” (now T. retusa) and "Terebratu-