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coveries, while unquestionably important, unfortunately 

 sometimes led to erroneous conclusions. They formed, 

 however, a phase of progress ; although they gave the 

 pendulum a swing in the right direction, the impetus was 

 too great ; the tendency to excessive subdivision gave 

 place to a brief period of undue lumping. 



Later, with the rapid increase of material, a healthy re- 

 action followed, although there came with it, for a time 

 and in certain quarters, a tendency to excessive subdivision 

 along the line of subspecies. But the continued rapid ac- 

 cumulation of fresh material, it is to be hoped, will supply 

 the required antidote, especially in the case of investiga- 

 tors having access to large collections. 



(2.) RESOURCES. — Professor Baird had as the basis for 

 his great work on North American Mammals what was 

 then looked upon as a large collection. Compared with 

 what previous workers had possessed, it was indeed enor- 

 mous ; compared with the collections of to-day it was 

 very small, and the wonder is that his work based thereon 

 so well stands the test of time. Doubtless more specimens 

 have been gathered during any one of the last four years 

 than Professor Baird had for the entire basis of his great 

 monograph, which will ever remain a monument to his 

 sagacity and accurate and painstaking methods. 



But the amount of material available for study in recent 

 years, in comparison with that available twenty to forty 

 years ago, is only one of the points to be considered, the 

 difference in quality being a far more important factor in 

 the case than the difference in quantity. In the earlier 

 days it was a rare thing to have any considerable number 

 of specimens of the same species from any one locality, 

 even the larger collections consisting of what might be 

 termed sporadic material, — a specimen or two from one 

 locality, and a few more from other localities, separated by 

 perhaps hundreds of miles. Furthermore they were often 

 without precise data as to either place or time of collection. 

 The skull, as a rule, was left in the skin, and hence could 



