June 6, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



865 



most valuable possession of museums and con- 

 stantly increase in value as years elapse. 

 They should not be left in the herbarium with 

 the ordinary specimens, but should be so 

 mounted as to be protected from injury in 

 handling* and should be kept in fire-proof 

 eases, if possible in a special room where they 

 may be consulted in the presence of a cus- 

 todian who can help to preserve all fragments 

 of the type material. 



The type plant from which the type speci- 

 men was secured has a far greater importance 

 than a type animal. Very often additional 

 specimens almost exactly duplicating the type 

 can be secured from it. These are merotypes" 

 and if used by the author of the species in 

 drawing up the original description become 

 paratypes as well. Carefully selected mero- 

 types collected at the same time as the type 

 specimen and used by the author as paratypes 

 are, properly speaking, duplicate types, having 

 practically the same value from a taxonomic 

 standpoint as the type itself, and should re- 

 ceive the same treatment in museums. 



If the original type is lost during the life 

 of the author of the species it is often possible 

 to secure substitute types collected from the 

 very spot where the type was secured. It is 

 sometimes possible to secure merotj^es from 

 the plant that yielded the original type. As a 

 rule no such satisfactory substitute types can 

 be obtained after the death of the author of 

 the species. 



Besides merotypes proper, cut from the type 

 plant as it stands, it is often possible to secure 

 specimens from its vegetatively propagated 

 offspring. Such clonotypes," as they have 

 been called, may be secured from plants that 



* Kellerman, Maude, 1912, "A Method of Pre- 

 serving Type Speeimens, " m Journ. Wash. Acad,. 

 Sci., 2: 222-223, No. 9, May 4. 



"Swingle, Walter T., 1912, "Merotypes as a 

 Means of Multiplying Botanical Types," in 

 Journal Wash. Acad. Sci., 2: 220-222, No. 9, 

 May 4. 



"Swingle, Walter T., 1912, " Clastotypes, Clono- 

 types and Spermotypes, Means for Multiplying 

 Botanical Type Material," in the Journal Waih. 

 Acad. Sci., 2: 337-339, No. 14, August 19. 



reproduce naturally by bulbs, offshoots, tubers, 

 etc., as well as from those propagated artifi- 

 cially by grafts or cuttings. Clonotypes can 

 thus be obtained in unlimited numbers and 

 are usually only slightly less representative 

 than merotypes proper. 



Specimens taken from seedlings of the type 

 plant have been called spermotypes. They 

 are of interest in case of short-lived species 

 too small to furnish many merotypes and 

 unable to yield clonotypes. Such seedlings 

 if compared with the type and found to agree 

 with it in all essential characters yield sper- 

 motypes almost as representative as clono- 

 types or merotypes. Spermotypes of dioecious 

 or polymorphic species have unusual value 

 since the seeds obtained from the female plant 

 that yielded the type specimen can usually be 

 depended upon to reproduce the species un- 

 changed, with of course both the constituent 

 sexes or all the polymorphic forms represented 

 among the seedlings. 



Reproduced Types 



Besides the additional material obtained 

 through the subdivision of the type plant or 

 by its propagation vegetatively or from seed 

 there are other important means for the wide 

 distribution of type material. 



Photographs may be taken of the type speci- 

 mens and, inasmuch as the camera is able to 

 reproduce all the detail visible to the unaided 

 eye and does it mechanically, these photo- 

 types,' as they have been called, are of much 

 value, especially as they can be reproduced 

 indefinitely. 



Phototypes are rendered still more valuable 

 if they can be supplemented by a fragment of 

 the type taken from a position definitely 

 marked on the photograph. Such specimens 

 have been called clastotypes. They can have, 

 of course, only a limited distribution, since 

 very few fragments can be spared from a type 

 specimen. 



' Kellerman, Maude, 1912, "Phototypes, Means 

 for Wide Distribution of Type Material," in 

 Journal Wash. Acad. Sci, 2: 339-40, No. 13, 

 August 19. 



