SECTION D.— ZOOLOGY. 



THE TAXONOMIC OUTLOOK IN 

 ZOOLOGY. 



ADDRESS BY 



W. T. CALMAN, D.Sc, F.R.S., 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



The selection of a systematic zoologist for the honour of addressing you 

 from this chair implies a belief that systematic zoology may have something 

 to say that will not be without interest to those whose studies lie in other 

 fields. I am not sure how far this belief is generally shared. The anato- 

 mist, the physiologist, the field naturalist, the student of one or other of 

 the innumerable specialisations of biological science, has always been 

 inclined to regard with distaste, if not with contempt, the work of those 

 whose business it is to denominate, classify and catalogue the infinite 

 variety of living things. The systematist is generally supposed to be 

 a narrow specialist, concerned with the trivial and superficial distinctions 

 between the members of some narrow group of organisms which he studies 

 in the spirit of a stamp collector ; happy when he can describe a new 

 species, triumphant if he can find an excuse for giving a fresh name to an 

 old one. 



It would be idle to deny the truth that there is in these criticisms, just 

 as it would be easy, although unprofitable, to point out that the substance 

 of them might be directed against the practice of most other branches of 

 research. The specialist, of whatever kind, has a tendency to mistake the 

 means for the end, to become fascinated by technique, and to suffer from a 

 myopia that blurs his vision of other fields than his own. 



I think, however, that there are some signs of an increasing appreciation 

 of the usefulness and even of the scientific value of taxonomy among the 

 younger generation of zoologists. More particularly, those who are con- 

 cerned with the applications of Zoology to practical affairs are, for the 

 most part, although not invariably, aware of the need for exact identification 

 of the animals they deal with. They do not always realise the difiiculties 

 that may stand in the way of this identification. It is a common experience 

 with us at the Natural History Museum to have some mangled fragments 

 of an animal brought in by a practical man who expects to be supplied 

 with the name of it while he waits. I am afraid that he often goes away 

 with a low opinion of our competence. 



It may not be without interest, therefore, if I attempt, in the first 

 place, to give some idea of how matters stand with this part of the systema- 

 tists' task, the identification and description of the species of living animals. 



When Linnaeus published in 1758 the first volume of the tenth 

 edition of his ' Systema Naturae ' he named and described about 4370 



