VI EDITORIAL STATEMENT. 



Whitman's own words. In general, each topic is introduced by one or more para- 

 graphs from one of his lectures or writings, or from his best-formulated notes. 

 Further illustrations are then given from other notes, or by condensed excerpts, 

 digests, or tables constructed from records which had not been summarized. The 

 editor has refrained from additional comment, except for the purpose of making 

 the account as smooth as was possible under the circumstances. 



It has been thought well to utilize all the collected material. Selection by other 

 hands than by the author himself might twist and perhaps distort his meaning. 

 Although this procedure, in many cases, introduced considerable repetition of 

 the description of the same type of behavior, it possesses the advantage of giving 

 the reader all of the material for reference, and an appreciation of the care, the 

 detail, and the completeness of the observations upon which these studies were 

 based. 



In this section on behavior we have followed the procedure of the preceding 

 volumes of adding at the end of each topic the folder designation from which the 

 material was taken. Such symbols as R33, B2b,C7/17, SS 10, etc., mean that 

 the material to which they are attached can be found in manuscripts contained 

 in folders thus designated by the author. In these cases the text represents approx- 

 imately the author's own words. The reader must bear in mind, however, that 

 in many cases these manuscripts contain "notes" of the roughest sort. We have 

 deemed it advisable to publish the material in its original form whenever possible, 

 and as a consequence only grammatical and rhetorical alterations of the more 

 obvious sort have been attempted. 



For the fuller illustration of many topics, we have grouped together, in a run- 

 ning fashion, numerous statements selected from various parts of a diary record, 

 and these quotations have been designated as "excerpts." At times this procedure 

 has not been possible and we have summarized the pertinent data of a record in 

 our own words and characterized it at the end as a digest or summary. In the 

 construction of the five tables of statistical data we have been compelled to gather 

 the material from so many divers sources that the use of any folder designation 

 for each item was impossible. In these tables, and elsewhere, species and genera 

 are often referred to by their popular names; but the names they bear in zoological 

 classification have been added at such points and intervals as to leave no doubt as 

 to the identity of the form under consideration. In the previous volumes of this 

 work this feature is adequately treated. 



Besides those editorial comments necessary to secure a continuity of account 

 of the material, we have added at the end of several chapters a brief summary 

 of the various facts and principles developed, and in Chapter IX we have attempted 

 a summary and analysis of the data of the previous eight chapters, which deal 

 with the reproductive cycle. In the main the reader will have no difficulty in dis- 

 tinguishing between the author's material and those parts representing the words 

 of the editor. In order to avoid any ambiguity, however, the two materials have 

 been printed with different type. 



