De correspondentie tussen M.M. Schepman (1847-1919) en E.A. Smith (1847-1916)

During most of his time in malacology, M.M. Schepman could count on the support of several important foreign malacologists. One of them was Edgar Albert Smith, who curated the malacological collection of the British Museum (Natural History) between 1867 and 1913. Probably the first time the two corresponded was during Schepmans work on the malacological collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden. Schepman published the results of this work in the Notes from the Leyden Museum. In 1889 Smith was mentioned for the first time in an article written by Schepman. Smith assisted Schepman with his work on the mollusks of the Siboga Expedition too. In return for all his support Schepman named seven new species after Smith: Pentadactylus (Morula) smithi, Niso smithi, Chrysodomus (Sipho) smithi, Ocinebra smithi, Urosalpinx smithi, Borsonia smithi and Ancilla edgariana. Nevertheless, Smith did not name any new species after Schepman. The correspondence between Schepman and Smith was most probably quite extensive, although only two letters (in the British Museum (Natural History)) and one postcard (in the National Museum of Wales) could be traced. They show the kind of relationship between Schepman and Smith, in which Schepman always asked Smith for help, but never vice versa.