VI PREFACE 



Gratitude is expressed to the fifteen participants, all of whom 

 made notable contributions. Most of the contributors made an ex- 

 tensive and thorough analysis of their chosen subjects, and some 

 treated their topics in exhaustive and carefully documented style. 



Credit for the success of this symposium goes to the symposium 

 committee, all of the University of California, Los Angeles: John N. 

 Belkin, chairman, Donald Heyneman, and Marietta Voge. These 

 zoologists were the prime actors in the conception of the idea, in 

 lining up the able speakers, in arranging and managing the sessions, 

 and, as not the least difificult task, in extracting manuscripts from 

 thirteen of the participants. They also helped in processing the manu- 

 scripts. I am sure that the officers of the meetings, the speakers, the 

 audiences, and, now, the scientific public, join me in expressing 

 hearty thanks to these tireless and self-efTacing workers. 



The second symposium (Part II), which is herein represented by 

 three of the six papers, was a feature of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science meeting at Indianapolis, and was 

 held on December 28, 1957. It was entitled "Geographic Distribution 

 of Contemporary Organisms," and constituted Part I of the general 

 symposium, "Some Unsolved Problems in Biology, 1957." This was 

 a joint program of AAAS sections F (Zoological Sciences) and G 

 (Botanical Sciences), and was extensively cosponsored, by the 

 Society of Systematic Zoology, Ecological Society of America, 

 Genetics Society of America, American Society of Naturalists, and 

 Botanical Society of America. The program was arranged by Harold 

 H. Plough, of Amherst College, as Secretary of Section F, ably 

 assisted by Ernst Mayr of Harvard University and E. Raymond 

 Hall of the University of Kansas. Dr. Hall presided at the sym- 

 posium and contributes the introductory remarks. 



We of the Pacific Section of the Society of Systematic Zoology 

 welcome the privilege of combining the papers resulting from our 

 symposium with the three submitted from the Indianapolis sym- 

 posium. As editor of the combined symposia, I want to express the 

 feeling that they very nicely complement the contributions from the 

 first symposium. 



Carl L. Hubbs 



Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 

 University of California, 

 La Jolla 

 October 1958 



