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23 Babault Babault’s Mouse-Shrew Myosorex babaulti Heim de Balsac and Lamotte, 1956 Guy Babault (1888–ca. 1932) was a French traveler, naturalist, conservationist, and collector . He was collecting in British East Africa from 1912 until 1920, at which time he is known to have been in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He wrote about his extensive collecting missions and published, among others, Chasses et recherches zoologiques en Afrique Orientale Anglaise in 1917 and Recherches zoologiques dans les provinces centrales de l’Inde et dans les régions occidentales de l’Himalaya in 1922. Many of the animals he collected can be seen in the Bourges Museum, gifted in 1927 on his return from another trip to East Africa. At least one book was written about his journeys , Voyage de M. Guy Babault dans l’Afrique Orientale Anglaise 1912–1913. There were further specimens gifted to the museum by his wife in 1932, and we can find no record of him after that date. He is also commemorated in the scienti fic name of a fish found in Lake Tanganyika , Simochromis babaulti. The shrew is con- fined to the mountains west and east of Lake Kivu, in DRC (Zaire), Rwanda, and Burundi. Baber Afghan Flying Squirrel Eoglaucomys baberi Blyth, 1847 [Syn. E. fimbriatus baberi] Emperor Zahiruddin Muhammad Baber (1483– 1530) was the founder of the Mughal Empire that ruled over Afghanistan. He was born in what is today Uzbekistan and conquered India in 1526, founding the dynasty that ruled there until 1857. One of his descendants built the Taj Mahal. It was said of him that the oath of temperance weighed heavily on him (he made a late and ecstatic discovery of wine): “His drinking parties took on an epic quality, on boats, in subterranean chambers of delight, in the violet garden or the garden of fidelity, because of a victory or a good harvest or a haircut.” Nevertheless, he died sober. Baber wrote his memoirs, and the “Flying Fox” mentioned in them was equated with this flying squirrel; hence the scientific name baberi. Zoologists disagree on its taxonomic status, as some consider it to be only a subspecies of the Kashmir Flying Squirrel Eoglaucomys fimbriatus . It is found in the mountains of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bachman Bachman’s Shrew Sorex longirostris Bachman, 1837 [Alt. Southeastern Shrew] Bachman’s Hare Sylvilagus bachmani Waterhouse, 1839 [Alt. Brush Rabbit] Dr. John Bachman (1790–1874) grew up on a farm and was always a great outdoorsman. On a trip to Philadelphia he met Alexander Wilson and Humboldt, and it was these illustrious friends who convinced him that the study of nature was a pursuit he should follow. When he was a teacher and preacher (he was a Lutheran minister of Charleston, South Carolina) he took up the study of birds and small mammals , especially rabbits, a project he continued for the rest of his life. He remained an active churchman and helped establish the Lutheran Synod of South Carolina, serving twice as its President (1824–1833 and 1839–1840). Although he owned slaves, he bucked the trend by educating them and was said to have baptized more than 90 African Americans in one B 24 year. Bachman wrote Characteristics of Genera and Species, as Applicable to the Doctrine of Unity in the Human Race (1864). This was a radical yet scientifically accurate tract that took the position that master and slave were the same species, providing a scientific rationale against slavery. Bachman had eight children by his first wife Harriet Martin and, we think, none by his second wife Maria, Harriet’s sister, who became a very fine illustrative artist. One of his daughters, also called Maria, married John WoodhouseAudubon(1812–1862),theyounger son of John James Audubon (Bachman’s close friend—two of his daughters were the first wives of Audubon’s two sons). When Audubon conceived the idea of a book on American mammals he asked Bachman to write the text, and together they created Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which Bachman and his sons eventually published in 1851 after Audubon’s death. Audubon named a number of bird speciesafterBachman ,suchasBachman’sSparrow Aimophila aestivalis and Bachman’s Warbler Vermivora bachmanii, and also immortalized his friend in the scientific name of the American Black Oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani. The shrew is found in the southeastern USA. The rabbit occurs from western Oregon south to Baja California in Mexico. Baer Baer’s Wood Mouse Hylomyscus baeri Heim...

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