The North American naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque spent much of the year 1818 engaged in a solo journey down the Ohio River Valley to explore parts of what was then the western United States. Along the way, he visited a number of fellow naturalists, and he spent more than a week at the Henderson, Kentucky, home of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. During the succeeding two years, Rafinesque published descriptions of new species that resulted from his expedition, including eleven species of fishes that eventually proved to have been invented by Audubon as a prank on the credulous naturalist. Less well known are a number of “wild rats” described by Rafinesque that include one recognized species (Musculus leucopus) and ten other, imaginary “species” fabricated by Audubon (Gerbillus leonurus, G. megalops, Spalax trivittata, Cricetus fasciatus, Sorex cerulescens, S. melanotis, Musculus nigricans, Lemmus albovittatus, L. talpoides, Sciurus ruber). Rafinesque's unpublished sketches of these anim...
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Article
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(1997)
Audubon's hoax: Ohio River fishes described by Rafinesque
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Profiles of Rafinesque
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(2000)
John D. Clifford's Indian Antiquities: Related Material by C. S. Rafinesque
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Constantine Samuel Rafinesque: A Voice in the American Wilderness
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C. S. Rafinesque and Ohio Valley Archaeology
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Darwin's Historical Sketch---An American Predecessor: C. S. Rafinesque
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Boewe, Charles;
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Mantissa: A Supplement to Fitzpatrick's Rafinesque
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Meyers, Amy R. W.;
Ford, Lisa L.;
(2011)
Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840
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Henry Ward and John James Audubon, 1831–1837
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Who Invented the Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)? on the Authorship of the Fraudulent 1812 Journal of Charles Le Raye
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Journeys through Paradise: Pioneering Naturalists in the Southeast
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Boehme, Sarah E.;
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John James Audubon in the West: The Last Expedition: Mammals of North America
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Irmscher, Christoph;
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Violence and artistic representation in John James Audubon
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Beidleman, Richard G.;
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California's Frontier Naturalists
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From Nature and Memory: William Bartram's Drawings of North American Flora and Fauna
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Giovanni Canestrini, la Società Veneto-Trentina di Scienze Naturali e la porta chiusa del Trentino
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Gli anni modenesi di Giovanni Canestrini
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Expedition to Russian America by I. G. Voznesensky of the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences
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To Fashion a Fauna for British India
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