Preface- 



i\s science expands and fragments, reviews and 

 syntheses of broad areas become increasingly useful and necessary. 

 Among the more effective means of review and synthesis are the 

 symposia that are being held in increasing numbers at scientific 

 meetings. Two such symposia, in 1957, encompassed the field of 

 zoogeography, with due attention to the underlying data of geo- 

 morphology, paleoclimatology, paleontology, and physiology. The 

 fifteen papers that have become available from these two symposia 

 comprise a notable and rather comprehensive, though somewhat 

 diverse contribution to zoogeography and to its background sciences. 

 The extent of the contribution is greatly enhanced by the publica- 

 tion of these assembled papers as one of the symposium volumes of 

 The American Association for the Advancement of Science. 



The first of these two symposia (Part I) was held under the prime 

 auspices of the Pacific Section of The Society of Systematic Zoology, 

 as a feature of the joint meeting of the American Institute of Biologi- 

 cal Sciences and the Pacific Division of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Sciences, at Stanford University, in August, 

 1957. The symposium, bearing the ample title "The Origins and 

 Affinities of the Land and Freshwater Fauna of Western North 

 America," was abundantly cosponsored by the American Society of 

 Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (Western Division), American 

 Society of Zoologists, California Academy of Sciences, Pacific Coast 

 Entomological Society, Society for the Study of Evolution, and 

 Western Society of Naturalists. The fourteen papers ran through well- 

 attended morning and afternoon sessions on August 26 and 27, plus a 

 final panel discussion that nearly filled a spacious hall on the evening 

 of the second day. The large and attentive audiences demonstrated 

 the liveliness of the subject. Audience contribution was so spirited 

 at the panel discussion that I had difficulty in closing the session at 

 a reasonable hour. 



It was my pleasure and privilege to act as general chairman of this 

 symposium. In conducting the sessions I was ably joined by the late 

 Karl P. Schmidt, as one of the last of his many generous acts, and 

 by George F. Edmunds, Jr. Panel members William H. Burt, Alden 

 H. Miller, Robert W. Pennak, Herbert H. Ross, and Dr. Schmidt 

 helped enliven the informal discussion. 



