1S90.] Allen on the Recognition of Geographical Forms. ? 



made were deposited in the National Museum, then commonly 

 known as 'The Smithsonian.' In a few years a large amount of 

 new material was thus brought together from the far West and 

 the remote North. These were the first collections of any magnitude 

 ever received from trans-Mississippian North America. Material 

 from east of the Mississippi River was still scanty, and hence the 

 proper means for careful comparison of eastern and western forms 

 was often lacking. 



During the elaboration of this material, derived from hundreds 

 of isolated localities, the discovery of new forms, both generic and 

 specific, was the paramount incentive in the investigation. Not 

 till some years later did the subject of climatic influences upon 

 animals, in other words the evolution of species by environment, 

 receive much consideration. Nor could it have been otherwise. 

 We have first to gather our facts before we can generalize. By 

 these seeming strictures no discredit is intended to the naturalists 

 of that period, nor any condemnation of their methods. They 

 were the pioneers, conducting a careful reconnaissance, and pre- 

 paring the way for the occupation of the field by the grand 

 army of workers who followed later. 



Variations, even when slight, are facts of great import, whether 

 they be individual, climatic, or specific, in the usually accepted 

 sense of this last term ; and when, except in the case of purelv 

 individual variation, the}' are made the basis of a name their avail- 

 ability in the discussion of profounder questions is thereby greatly 

 enhanced. Down to as late as 1S65, a collection of individuals 

 indicated by a binomial name was a species, theoretically, at 

 least, distinct and definable from any other similar group. An 

 occasional intermediate, when found, was a great stumbling block, 

 usually to be accounted for on the theory of hybridization. Vari- 

 eties, in the geographical sense of today, were rare indeed, and 

 the term subspecies was almost unknown in zoology. 



Between the years 1S65 and 1S70 the question of what was 

 a species had already become a very troublesome one. Many of 

 the then currently recognized species were found to be as elu- 

 sive as the proverbial flea. The increase of material and better 

 opportunities for investigation showed that the range of individual 

 variation had been underrated, and that many of the alleged differ- 

 ences on which species had been founded were of little or no 

 value, while in many other cases closely allied so-called species 



