THE RESEARCH COLLECTIONS 



BY 



THOMAS BARBOUR 



The research collections of the Museum stand in the same relation to 

 the student of systematic zoology, of evolution, of comparative 

 anatomy or of geographical distribution that the library does to the 

 student of law or history. Mr. John Stephenson of England, in 1 928, 

 defined systematic zoology in a singularly succinct and yet complete 

 paragraph: as follows. 



"The value of Systematic Zoology is generally understood, though 

 perhaps still occasionally liable to deprecation. The first requisite 

 in zoological work of any kind — morphological, economic, or any 

 other — is to know what one is dealing with; before we can so much 

 as begin on any other problem, we must know what our animals are 

 — must have them described, named, and classified; and Systematic 

 Zoology, which does this, is thus the bed-rock on which all other 

 zoological research ultimately rests. Such work stands for all time; 

 the first adequate description of a new animal is something which 

 can never be duplicated, never repeated; it is there, once for all, as 

 something to be appealed to, something that cannot, by the rules 

 under which the systematist works, be superseded. It may seem to 

 be of little interest at the moment; it may not be recalled for years; 

 but it will be required, and will come into its own when much work 

 in other branches has become obsolete through change of fashion or 

 improved technique, or has been shown to be useless for any further 

 advance." 



The Annual Report of the Museum for the year 1930-31 con- 

 tained these remarks which emphasize and perhaps in some degree 

 paraphrase what has been said before, and it may be recalled that 

 emphasis is often gained by repetition. " The realization grows that 

 in no way can so wide a grasp be gained of many aspects of animal 

 life, such as a variation, of adaptation to environment, of distribution 

 in time and space, and, above all, in the appreciation of the proc- 



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