12 CHACE 



not be so if the faculties and administrators of these universities can be 

 convinced of the importance of knowing not only how a certain animal 

 reacts to varying environments and stimuli but what the animal is and 

 which of its relatives might prove to be more favorable subjects for ob- 

 servation and experimentation. 



Let us not worry about the unpredictable future of marine inverte- 

 brate systematic research until we have made greater progress toward our 

 present goal. Let us not discourage those who would help us attain that 

 goal by telling them that the job is finished or that taxonomy is too 

 subjective to be called a science. Let us instead guide their enthusiasm 

 toward the more obscure groups where the job is still far from finished. 

 If we give them the best possible training in systematic zoology and 

 provide them with security comparable to that enjoyed by their faculty 

 colleagues, some of them will eventually minimize the instability that 

 is the target of most of the criticism and ridicule. Let us give an oppor- 

 tunity to the most promising of those who feel as Darwin felt when 

 he wrote, "I could not employ my life better than in adding a little to 

 Natural Science." Perhaps one of them, too, will add more than a little. 



