IV. THE COLLECTION, PRESERVATION 

 AND DETERMINATION OF SPECIMENS 



ECOLOGICAL study does not end with collecting 

 specimens, and it may not begin there. The impor- 

 tance of collecting and preserving specimens will vary 

 with the phase of ecological study considered. In 

 the field study of behavior of a single species there 

 may be almost no collecting of animals but much 

 collecting of notes; but if one is devoted primarily 

 to the recognition and study of the composition of 

 associations and their interrelations, much collecting 

 will have to be done. Also, when studying the 

 ecological relations of some taxonomic unit, as in 

 aggregate ecology, the number of associates is so large 

 that one must do rather extensive collecting. But 

 even the exhaustive study of the behavior of any 

 single species will necessitate considerable collecting. 

 The necessity for this has been shown by Forbes 

 (1880, The Food of Fishes, p. 20) as follows: "If 

 one wishes to become acquainted with the black bass, 

 for example, he will learn but little if he limits him- 

 self to that species. He must evidently study also 

 the species upon which it depends for its existence, 

 and the various conditions upon which these de- 

 pend. He must likewise study the species with 

 which it comes in competition, and the entire system 

 E 49 



