Introduction
Annie Elisabeth Law (1842–1889) was a British-American conchologist, who discovered 11 species and one genus of mollusks, but did not publish formal descriptions of them.
Personal life
Annie Law was born in 1842 in Carlisle, England, the first of three children of John Law. The family migrated to the United States in around 1850, settling in Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee.
After her parents had died, Law spent time in California, including four years in Hollister, San Benito County, and later at Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, where she died on 12 January 1889
Conchology
Law collected specimens in the mountainous regions of North Carolina and Tennessee. She corresponded with James Lewis, who published a paper describing her finds in the Holston River, and other papers formally describing the species she discovered. Species she discovered include the following, two of which were named in her honor:
- Appalachina chilhoweensis, previously known as Helix chilhoweensis (Lewis, 1874)
- Helix lawii (Lewis, 1874)
- Pleurobema oviforme (Conrad, 1834), previously known as Unio lawi Lea, 1871
- Vitrizonites latissima, previously known as Vitrina latissima (J. Lewis, 1874) on Tusquita Bald Mountain, at an altitude of 6,600 feet (2,000 m).
- Zonites acerra (Lewis, 1874)
- Zonites cerinoidea var. cuspidata (Lewis, 1875)
- Zonites lawii