These were just the new names that we created in the 1984 and 1985 "Synopsis" and "Classification" papers. We chose not to name anything after Harry Butler simply because he had already been honoured with Notoscincus butleri by Glenn Storr etc.

Interestingly, when I applied for a collecting permit in the Northern Territory in 1985 he was one of the Conservation Commissioners. My application for the license was initially refused, partly on the basis of Harry Butler's input according to senior Government sources and partly on the basis of input from his then colleague the grasshopper geneticist Max King. After my submission to the Northern Territory Ombudsman and a threat to invoke a Federal Act of Parliament, the NT Conservation Commission decided to grant my collecting permit forthwith. I have no plans to name anything at all after either Butler or King, although I may reconsider should I decide to start studying the taxonomy of grubs...



Richard Wells

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