[Taxacom] Units of length in Francis Walker's descriptions of insects

[Dr Brian Taylor]

My understanding, as an entomologist and I am almost sure it is as was used
in the Francis Walker's descriptions, is that one line = 1/12 of an imperial
inch, i.e. 1 line = 2.117 mm.




On 04/11/2018, 14:04, "Mary Barkworth" <Mary.Barkworth at usu.edu> wrote:

> From wikipedia:
> "The line (abbreviated L or l or ‴ or lin.) was a small English unit of
> length, variously reckoned as ​1⁄10, ​1⁄12, ​1⁄16, or ​1⁄40 of an inch. It was
> not included among the units authorized as the British Imperial system in
> 1824".  
> I had thought it was 1/12 of an inch. Wrong, again. Does anyone know whether
> one usage prevailed in a particular discipline? Using 1/12 gave me numbers
> that seemed reasonable when looking at grass descriptions.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Dilrukshan
> Wijesinghe
> Sent: Sunday, November 4, 2018 6:58 AM
> To: Taxacom List <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
> Subject: [Taxacom] Units of length in Francis Walker's descriptions of insects
> 
> This must be common knowledge to entomologists better informed than I am: Can
> someone tell me if the units in Francis Walker's descriptions of insects are
> tenths of an inch? E.g. does "5 1/2 lin." = 0.55 inch?
>  Thanks.
> 
> Priyantha
> D. P. Wijesinghe
> dpwijesinghe at yahoo.com
> 
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