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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLII 



as will enable the systematist to determine the character- 

 istics and the environment of the same species in another 

 region. I think the morphologist, too, must adopt the 

 practise which the systematist lias found indispensable. 

 He should cite in a clear but condensed form all the 

 pertinent morphological literature for each of the species 

 which he treats. The recognition of this obligation 

 would, I believe, do much to raise the standard of our 

 published work, and it would place at the disposal of the 

 systematist a mass of data which he ought to use to great 



Mr. A. E. Hitchcock: I wish to call the attention of 

 the ecologists to one very important method by which they 

 may greatly aid the taxonomists. The former are doing- 

 much careful work in studying the ecological relation- 

 ships of plants, but in order that this work may be 

 checked up and be available to taxonomists it is necessary 

 that specimens of the species studied should be prepared 

 and deposited in a public herbarium. Unless such a 

 permanent record can be made the statements concerning 

 habitat, variation and other ecological data are of little 

 value to the systematist. because they can not be verified. 

 Such verification is especially necessary because the ecol- 

 ogist is not likely to be sufficiently familiar with all 

 groups of plants to pass authoritatively upon their botan- 

 ical names. Even when the plants are submitted to 

 taxonomists for identification it may hap] ten that errors 

 occur. Data based upon specimens available in public 

 herbaria would aid ecologists themselves to coordinate 

 their work. Taxonomists will be glad to avail them- 

 selves of all serious work done by ecologists when the 

 data can be definitely connected with preserved specimens. 



One other point, I wish to emphasize the necessity of 

 field work in determining the limits of species. If pos- 

 sible, taxonomists who are monographing groups of 

 plants should study these plants in the field. The 

 botanist can determine usually to his own satisfaction 

 the limits of variation of a single species in a given 



