FUTURE OF PALEONTOLOGY — CUSHMAN 323 



be preserved, so that the scientific results will not be lost, and have to 

 be later obtained with much effort. Cooperation between the scien- 

 tific staffs of various oil companies is much more in evidence than it 

 was even a few years ago. If this scattered information could be 

 gathered together and gradually published, with the necessary illus- 

 trations, it would be of immense help to all those seeking data along this 

 same line. If some organization connected with petroleum work 

 could sponsor such a program of cooperative studies, the results would 

 be of immense practical value. 



Much of the future work and the rapidity of progress in paleon- 

 tology, as in all other lines of human endeavor, depends greatly upon 

 organization and cooperation. In this way, waste of effort through 

 unnecessary duplication will be avoided. The individual worker in 

 his chosen field will feel the stimulation that results from his knowing 

 that what he does is part of a whole which he himself can see in its 

 entirety. 



Under capable leadership, it will be possible to correlate various 

 groups of workers so that the fossils of the various parts of the geologic 

 time scale will be illustrated, described, and their distributions, ecology, 

 and relationships known in a series of well-thought-out volumes, which, 

 although they will be added to as progress continues, should be, never- 

 theless, sufficiently exhaustive so as to be standard works for a long 

 while to come. 



An added service that has been attempted on a small scale is the 

 distribution of collections of fossils either as duplicates or in the way 

 of casts. This work has been done to some degree by the United 

 States National Museum, so that casts or duplicates are available 

 for many of the elements of Old- World faunas for comparison with 

 our own. From type localities, as already mentioned, collections 

 could be made which would be of great value in exchanging with other 

 institutions. Individuals, especially those working with microfossils, 

 can send paratypes of their species to widely scattered museums, or 

 to other workers, who could reciprocate and make a first-hand knowl- 

 edge of their material possible. 



With many of the older species, poorly illustrated and inadequately 

 described as they often were, an attempt should be made to refigure 

 and redescribe the species from the actual type specimens where they 

 are still extant. Much confusion would be eliminated by this relatively 

 simple undertaking. 



It is to be hoped that many similar plans to carry on the future 

 work of paleontology will suggest themselves to the workers in this 

 science. Progress will continue to be made, but it will be more 

 rapid and more sure if greater cooperation among paleontologists can 



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