Insects have come and gone since BATES first wrought at Ega. The 
comparison of the Insects taken by BATES with their descendants 
of to-day is both interesting and instructive. Such a comparison 
could not be made were it not for the preservation of the types 
collected by BATES himself. Such material serves to guide us in 
our understanding of evolutionary processes. 
To sum up what I have said, it is highly important to preserve 
typical material in the first place because without the types as 
material for reference and comparison it is in many cases almost 
absolutely impossible to be certain what was the intention of an 
author in naming a species; and secondly, because such material is 
valuable as definitely marking in the case of living species the 
stage of evolution reached at the time when the material was made 
the subject of observation. 
I wish now to advance for consideration a few propositions as to 
the location of typical material. It is in my opinion highly 
desirable that so far as possible all such material should be con- 
served in institutions which are sufficiently well endowed and 
manned as to make it certain that the collections entrusted to 
them will be kept in good condition so long as it is possible to do 
so. I deprecate the retention of the types of species in private 
collections or in institutions inadequately endowed and carelessly 
administered. It is inevitable that private individuals engaged in 
the study of collections, which thev have made, should create 
types. Many of the most valuable contributions made to our own 
science are due to private initiative and effort. Collections acquired 
by specialists, who have written upon them, are often exceedingly 
rich in types, but I maintain that it is in every way desirable that 
such collections should find their final resting place in the greater 
and well endowed museums of the world. I deprecate the placing 
of such collections in the custody of small and poorly endowed 
and equipped institutions. You will pardon me for venturing to 
give you at this point a concrete illustration of the disadvantages, 
which flow from a disregard of this matter. Some forty or more 
years ago one of the most eminent paleontologists of Great Britain 
gave his large and valuable collection of the types of the fossils he 
had obtained in the Siwalik Hills in India to the Museum of a 
