VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY MATTHEW 289 



On the anatomical side of paleontology, the far greater complete- 

 ness of our material in recent years has stimulated comparative re- 

 searches of high quality, apparent in many of the memoirs I have 

 cited and in a series of memoirs by Gregory, Watson, Broom, Willis- 

 ton, Case, and many others. 



Taxonomic researches and revisions have by no means been ne- 

 glected, but I can mention only one of the many completed or in 

 progress, the revision by Miller and Gidley of the supergeneric 

 groups of rodents, in which, for the first time, the fossil representa- 

 tives of this order have received adequate treatment in a comprehen- 

 sive revision. 



In looking over the apparent trend of recent advances I am im- 

 pressed with the honest and conscientious endeavor everywhere ap- 

 parent to provide a broader and more secure foundation of evidence 

 for our researches by much more extensive collections, more complete 

 specimens, and more exact records. We have tried to get into 

 closer touch with stratigraphic geology on one side, with compara- 

 tive anatomy and zoology on the other- We have, on the whole, I 

 think, kept fairly clear, considering the great increase in our collec- 

 tions, of the temptation to multiply species correspondingly, the be- 

 setting sin of the systematist ; and, although the Mendelian school of 

 zoologists will have naught to do with us, we have succeeded, I 

 think, in making very good use of the data and viewpoints that they 

 have emphasized and incorporating them satisfactorily into our own 

 scheme of things. 



