18 HEDGPETH 



enough was known of the systematics of the animal life, and it would 

 be impossible today without the staff of systematists to analyse the col- 

 lections as they are made. It should be further emphasized that this 

 work is being carried out by the same staff that started out years before 

 as "pure" systematists. A systematist in a hydrobiological institution 

 cannot, if he is really interested in the full implications of his studies, 

 remain a cabinet naturalist, while in museums there is more frequently 

 than not little opportunity to be anjiihing else. The example of the 

 Hancock Foundation in employing and supporting systematists fully 

 justifies our contention that the best systematists should not be allowed 

 to wither away in museums, but should be employed where they have 

 the opportunity to make the most of their talents and inevitably broad- 

 ening interests. 



To paraphrase Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, it is the duty of 

 every limnological and oceanographic institution to see that systematics 

 is represented on its staff and that the work of such systematists is well 

 supported. This support should be augmented by the realization that 

 a systematist serves not only his own institution but the entire scientific 

 fraternity, and that it is an obligation to allow him time to meet at 

 least some of the demands that are inevitably made upon his knowl- 

 edge. This is, of course, enlightened self-interest, for in this way the 

 services of specialists in the various groups may be pooled in the cause 

 of increasing knowledge among men, to which we are all dedicated. 



LITERATURE CITED 

 Cole, F. J. 



1934. "J. J." A biographical note, in James Johnstone Memorial Volume, 

 University Press, Liverpool, pp. 1-1 L 



RiTTER, Wm. E. 



1916. The place of description, definition and classification in philosophical 

 biology. Scientific Monthly, November, 1916, pp. 455-470. 



ScHMiTT, W. L. et al. 



1953. Conference on the importance and needs of systematics in biology. 

 National Research Council, Washington, D. C, 53 pp. plus appendices. 

 (Mimeographed.) 



