Primary types in the collection of molluscs in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum: Patellogastropoda and Lepetellida

All primary (name-bearing) types of Patelloidea, Lottioidea, Fissurelloidea and Scissurelloidea deposited in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum are presented. The reference to the original publication, including the original generic position, the type locality, the collector and the cited dimensions of the type specimen(s), is provided for each species, followed by information from the label for each type in the NMSA collection (type locality, collector and catalogue number), size of the type specimen, brief remarks and colour photographs.

Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan

Since its publication in 1982, the Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan has become the main reference work for the archaeology of Afghanistan, and the standard sites and monuments record for the region; archaeological sites are now referred to under their Gazetteer catalogue number as routine in academic literature, and the volume has become a key text for developing research in the area. This revised and updated edition has been significantly expanded to incorporate new field-work and discoveries, as well as older field-work more recently published, and presents new cases of synthesis and unpublished material from private archives. New discoveries include the Rabatak inscription detailing the genealogy of the Kushan kings, a huge archive of Bactrian documents, Aramaic documents from Balkh on the last days of the Persian empire, a new Greek inscription from Kandahar, two tons of coins from Mir Zakah, a Sasanian relief of Shapur at Rag-i Bibi, a Buddhist monastic 'city' at Kharwar, new discoveries of Buddhist art at Mes Aynak and Tepe Narenj, and a newly revealed city at the Minaret of Jam. With over 1500 catalogue entries, supplemented with concordance material, site plans, drawings, and detailed maps prepared from satellite imagery, the Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan: Revised Edition is the most comprehensive reference work on the archaeology and monuments of the region ever undertaken. Cataloguing all recorded sites and monuments from the earliest times to the Timurid period, this volume will be an invaluable contribution to the renewed interest in Afghanistan's cultural heritage and an essential resource for students and researchers.

Jan Joachim Tarło biskup kijowski (1718-1723) i poznański (1723-1732) Czynności pontyfikalne

Jan Joachim Tarło belonged to a family whose three members were bishops of Poznań in the first half of the 18th century. Jan Joachim was an alumnus of Jesuit schools and during his sojourn there joined the Society of Jesus which he left in 1689, passing into the ranks of diocesan clergy. In December 1718 he was granted papal provision to the bishopric in Kiev and remained in office until 1723 when he was transferred to the office of bishop of Poznań which he fulfilled for nine years until his death on 13 August 1732. He died in Vienna on his return from a journey to Rome.His book of pontifical activities for the years 1719-1731 survives till the present day and is stored at the Archdiocesan Archive in Poznań (catalogue number ASO 7). The book is divided into sections in which the following types of activities are recorded: ordinations of various degrees including presbiterate and episcopate, blessing of cornerstones, consecration and blessing of churches, consecration of permanent altars and portative stones, blessing of church bells, consecrations of the holy oils.From the records in the book it follows that during his ministry as bishop of Kiev, Tarło stayed in the Cracow diocese and discharged his duties there. Interestingly, there is no evidence of his performing any official acts in the area of the Kiev diocese, which must have been connected with the fact that already by then a great part of its territory (the bishopric of Kiev included) lay within the borders of the Russian Empire, whereas the part that remained in the Kingdom of Poland encompassed just a few parish churches.

On the nomenclature of the palaemonid names Palaemon spinipes Desmarest, 1817, Palaemon spinipes Schenkel, 1902, and Macrobrachium wallacei Wowor & Ng, 2008 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea)

Holthuis (1995) commented that there were two forms that have been referred to the widespread Indo-West Pacific Giant Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man, 1879), and they should be recognized as subspecies: M. rosenbergii rosenbergii (De Man, 1897) sensu stricto (eastern Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia and Philippines), and M. rosenbergii dacqueti (Sunier, 1925) (Sundaic Southeast Asia, Indochina and South Asia). Wowor & Ng (2007) argued that the two subspecies should be regarded as distinct species – M. rosenbergii (De Man, 1879) and M. dacqueti (Sunier, 1925). They showed that the two species, in addition to their non-overlapping distributions, can be distinguished by the relative height of the rostral base, spination of the second to fifth pereiopods in adults, shape of the fourth thoracic sternite as well as live coloration. However, in doing so, Wowor & Ng (2007) created a major nomenclatural problem, as the species that is widely fished in South and Southeast Asia as well as Indochina, and also extensively cultured throughout the world should actually be known as M. dacqueti and not M. rosenbergii. To minimize taxonomic and nomenclatural confusion, they noted that it would be preferable if the name “M. rosenbergii” could be retained for the commercially more valuable and extensively researched species from Southeast Asia. To this effect, Wowor & Ng (2008) requested the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) to use its plenary powers to set aside the previous type fixation for Palaemon rosenbergii De Man, 1879 (a holotype female from Andai, New Guinea, in the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Leiden, catalogue number RMNH D 1097) and to designate the lectotype specimen of Palaemon dacqueti Sunier, 1925 (a male specimen from Java, Indonesia, in the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Leiden, catalogue number RMNH D 1065), as its neotype. This would conserve the name Palaemon rosenbergii De Man, 1879, for the Southeast Asian species. The Commission agreed and ruled that this be done (ICZN 2010, Opinion 2253).

The Text Called Szmul Rozensztajn’s Diary

The text called Szmul Rozensztajn’s Diary, catalogue number 302/115, can be found in the Memoirs collection of the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute. This is a typewritten text in Yiddish, 161 pages long, compiled on the basis of a manuscript written in the Łódź Ghetto. Daily entries cover the period from 20 February 1941 to 21 November 1941. This is no doubt part of a larger whole. Both the immediate post-war scholars of Jewish literature from the Łódź Ghetto – Ber Mark and Iszaja Trunk – and the contemporary editors of fragments of Szmul Rozensztajn’s Diary translated into English – Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides – say that the original of the Diary is kept at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, while the typewritten text is in Yad Vashem Archives in Jerusalem. But the inventory of the Jewish Memoirs collection of the Jewish Historical Institute published in 1994 mentions only a typewritten copy. The whereabouts of the original are unknown. We do not know which part of the copy is available to us.