38 ANIMAL LIFE AND SOCIAL GROWTH 



While such excellent analyses of the physical 

 elements in the environment yield interesting and 

 valuable data, their interpretation is not always 

 evident. Our inside information concerning the 

 motives that underly the actions of the university 

 people, allows us to see immediately the need for 

 checking such field data as we have been discus- 

 sing with information gained from other sources. 

 One such source available is the use of appro- 

 priate laboratory experimentation; another is the 

 use of more refined methods of collecting data 

 in the field. 



One of the more careful methods of field study 

 in common use is the selection of areas of standard 

 size which are frequently square and are therefore 

 called quadrats. If quadrat studies are to be 

 made, the experience used in the preceding survey 

 should be drawn upon in the location of the 

 quadrats. Unfortunately in practice the investi- 

 gator frequently does not know the names of 

 many of the animals with which he is dealing and 

 a certain length of time must elapse before the 

 identifiers can report. This handicap combined 

 with time limitations of the investigator, further 

 combined with the fact that the studies must 

 frequently be carried on far from the usual labora- 

 tory or even the usual area of residence often 

 causes the student to use his general impressions 



