518 ^ century of progress in the natural sciences 



Herpetological Societies and Journals 



The growth of the herpetological societies that maintain journals as outlet for 

 publication had a most important influence on the rise of herpetology in America 

 in the twentieth century. Copeia, now the journal of the American Society of 

 Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, begun in 1913, was at first edited and privately 

 published by John T. Nichols, of The American Museum of Natural History. Its 

 function as envisaged by him was to serve as an outlet for short papers on mis- 

 cellaneous minor observations of all sorts on cold-blooded vertebrates. The journal 

 was taken over by the Society in 1924 under the editorship of E. E. Dunn, and 

 was expanded and reorganized to publish longer and more important papers in 

 1930, under the editorship of Helen Thompson Gaige. I served as herpetological 

 editor from 1937 to 1950, followed by Norman Hartweg. The miscellaneous note 

 section continues the tradition of minor notes, often by beginners in the field, and 

 thus has served as an effective training school for the writing of papers. Research 

 is fostered by grants-in-aid from the Society's funds. 



Like Copeia, the journal Herpetologica was at first privately published by 

 Major Chapman Grant, of San Diego; it was founded in 1936, and was edited 

 by Major Grant and Walter L. Necker until 1943, subsequently by Major Grant 

 alone. The Herpetologists' League was oganized in 1946 in order to strengthen 

 support for Herpetologica. 



It is gratifying to note the birth of the British Journal of Herpetology, in 

 1948, as the organ of the newly organized British Herpetological Society, 



The infiuence of both societies and journals has plainly been to expand the 

 numbers of herpetologists, to fire more and more amateurs with the ambition to 

 publish their studies and observations, and to direct an increasing number of 

 students into university training. 



Anatomy^ - 



Interest in the anatomy of amphibians and reptiles was split three ways during 

 the century under discussion. Simple description of the anatomy of animals (and 

 plants) has always been one of the main duties of morphologists, and this ele- 

 mentary recording of facts continued throughout the century. The taxonomy of 

 the higher categories is based almost entirely on morphological differences and 

 similarities, and the pursuit of taxonomic interests added greatly to our knowl- 

 edge of the anatomy of amphibians and reptiles. Far more important than either 

 of these was the enormous stimulus to anatomical research that came from the 

 publication of the Origin of Species. Amphibians and reptiles occupy a strategic 

 position between the fishes and the mammals, and were closely studied in the 

 intensive search for the phylogeny of vertebrate structures. 



In 1850 the field of vertebrate anatomy was still dominated by the methods 

 and ideas of Cuvier in France, Meckel and Johannes Miiller in Germany, and 

 Owen in England. The works of these four and their contemporaries, aside from 

 their philosophical content, laid the foundation for modern descriptions of the 

 anatomy of vertebrates. Straight description of structure, perhaps because it 

 usually does not attempt to evaluate data and therefore demands little back- 

 ground, is available doctor's thesis material. Many of the hundreds of anatomical 



12. Contributed by my colleague, D. Dwight Davis, Curator of Anatomy, Chicago 

 Natural History Museum. 



