Nessie
Popular affectionate name for the Loch Ness monster, who
is said to reside in a lake in northern Scotland. In an article in
Nature titled Naming the Loch Ness Monster, naturalist Sir
Peter Scott and Robert Rines bestowed the scientific name Nessiteras
rhombopteryx. They felt obliged to do this following modern
photographic evidence suggesting the reality of the monster,
since a British Act of Parliament (1975) requires a
scientific name for any rare species of animal qualifying for
conservation. Some newspapers gleefully pointed out that this
scientific name may be converted to the anagram Monster
Hoax by Sir Peter.
