EX HA USTIVENESS. 7 5 



In this way he could have secured for himself 

 the priceless gem of "priority of discovery " 

 without the tedious years of work; he could 

 then have produced what so many scientists in 

 prominent positions produce on subjects fit to 

 occupy one mind for years, a few pages of 

 general discussion and desultory reference to 

 scattered and long-known facts. 



The characteristic of exhaustiveness and its 

 consequences is well illustrated in his "detail 

 work " in the Monograph of Cirripedia. By the 

 examination of an enormous number of speci- 

 mens he showed how very variable are the spe- 

 cies of the genus Balanus, and how, through 

 imperfect examinations and want of caution, 

 so many nominal species of fossil Balani have 

 been described. Discussing dubious species, 

 he said, " Bronn does not seem to have been 

 aware of the absolute necessity of giving 

 minute details in his descriptions of fossil 

 cirripeds." 1 Probably in no department of 

 the biological sciences has there been more 

 superficial and worthless work done than in 

 the description of species. This is doubtless 

 due to the fact that a spurious fame could be 

 acquired by the connection between the author's 

 name and that of the species he described. 



1 Monograph of the Cirripedia, Vol. II. pp. 173, 184. 



