ON THE USE OF FAUXAL LISTS. •275- 



ON THE USE OF FAUNAL LISTS. 



By Ernest E. Thompson. 



The fjllowing is a brief abstract of Mr. Thompson's paper: 



" A Faunal List is a full catalogue of the animals known to inhabit 

 any given ai-ea, and is usually undei'stood to include remarks on the 

 relative abundance in that area, on any irregularities of distribution, 

 and on seasonal or other changes. It is, therefore, a work founded 

 on (first) correct identification of the animals, and (second) correct 

 particular identification of the time and place of their occurrence. 



The evident object of a faunal list is the exact mapping out of a 

 countiy in such a way that the distribution, etc., may be compared 

 with other physical maps, i.e. ai-ranged facts, and the reasons of that 

 distribution understood. The end of enabling students to know what 

 to look for is quite subsidiary and incidental. 



The only possible means of preparing a proper list is by a certain 

 very small area being watched daily for a number of yeai's by a 

 thoroughly competent observer, who must appreciate the necessity 

 for sci'upulous exactness and for keeping separate his ascertained facts 

 and his theories. Let him theorize all he likes, but he must never 

 mix his theoiies with, or pvit them forward as, facts. 



It will be seen at once that the worst faults a list can have are — 

 actual misstatement, hasty genei'alisation, which is partial misstate 

 ment, and vagueness, which is equivocal misstatement. No one will, 

 I presume, deny the total depravity of actual misstatement, whether 

 intended or not. A wrong fact is a long time in being corrected, and 

 has marvellous power for evil. Hasty generalisation is less noxious 

 only because it bears on its face more or less clearly the imprint of 



