42 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
of many specimens that could not be referred with certainty to any species. 
To my mind this is bad science, bad example, and bad morals. 
Specimens of mammals and birds are subject to several conditions and vicis- 
situdes, any one of which may render identification doubtful if not positively 
erroneous. Among these may be mentioned immaturity, poor or imperfect 
condition, worn pelage or plumage, intermediate position between two or more 
described forms, or — most distressing of all — peculiarities exhibited by the single 
specimen from a remote locality — a specimen which, until others are received, 
cannot be satisfactorily disposed of, either by referring it to an unknown geo- 
graphic race (subspecies) or by regarding it as a case of individual ^or fortuitous 
variation, thus leaving the author’s best judgment enshrouded in doubt. 
The pernicious practice — one might say mania — of naming every specimen is a 
stumbling block in the progress of science and is particularly unfortunate when 
done by the revisor of a group, whose authority is accepted by students. For 
students naturally adopt as final the determinations they find in the hand- 
writing of the expert, regarding specimens so labeled as typical of the species or 
subspecies whose names they bear. But as a matter of fact many of the speci- 
mens so labeled are not only not typical, but are either unidentifiable, or- so 
exactly intermediate between the species in question and some other, that the 
name of the other would be equally applicable. 
In this connection, a recent protest by P. A. Taverner of the Geological 
Survey of Canada is worth repeating. He says : ‘ ‘The truth is, we cannot with 
absolute certainty identify every specimen we study. Why then deceive our- 
se ves and mislead others by making a bluff at doing the impossible? Why not 
own up honestly and admit that we cannot name such material? We may state 
that we think it is so and so and where necessary give reasons for the conclusion, 
but to pass as fact what is only opinion is not the spirit of modern science.” 
{The Auk, Vol. 36, No. 2, p. 317, April, 1919.) 
— C. Hart Merriam. 
