yew YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 251 April 1 Page 
ling the facts render it very expensive. Rather 
differences that are aleatory, we must recognize phe ae 
ities; to establish relations before we decide to break things 
apart, and give weight to the factors which control variations in 
color, shapes, sizes, and even structures within the genetic makeup 
of the species, ecological, clinal, and sometimes products of hy- 
bridization between species of common ancestry and close genetic 
relationship. 
Another aspect of the problem is the clumsiness of certain descrip- 
tions. Included in many of them are characters which are of gener- 
ic, not specific, value. To say "“ovate-triangular" when all the 
species in a genus, or subgenus, are ovate-triangular is not only 
redundant, but confusing. And that can be said also of a genus in 
relation to the family or subfamily. Anatomical characteristics 
should not be evaluated beyond their importance, because it is log- 
ical to surmise that an organism can be variable internally as well 
as externally. Any conclusion on that respect should be taken after 
the research on a reasonable number of individuals, not on a single 
specimen, unless the differences are of a remarkable kina. The fact 
is that when the nomenclature is atomized we fail to recognize re- 
lationships in geographical distribution and other aspects of the 
complex. We know that there are not two individuals completely 
alike in any species (except in the rare ones which are parthenoge- 
netic), and the range of variations can be extraordinary according 
to the genetic setup of the populations (Columbella mercatoria is a 
good example). When I collected Strombus pugilis in Yucatan, I 
could have said that many of them belong to the subspecies nicara- 
guensis, but the examination of a large series from differen local- 
{ties had shown that the subspecies does not exist as such and the 
differences are only clinal. 
Any one who has worked in taxonomy for many years has committed 
such mistakes sometimes. When I revise some of the forms I named 
forty years ago, I realize my own shortcomings. But today, with 
all the information and the better defined concepts with which we 
work, it would be inexcusable to reach such scanty conclusions and 
to create spurious names. 
Cordially, 
J. J. Parodiz, Curator 
Section of Invertebrates 
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
—————— 
OYSTER CULTURE 
From the Sea to the Mountains 
On the occasion of the June, 1973 meeting of the AMU at the Univer- 
si ‘ i trip to Cape Henlopen and a tour 
ty of Delaware we enjoyed a field Pp p Aree a oer ibe Sh 
of ¢ i i ratory at Lewes. 
he University's marine eed bh Sed early stages of growth, in 
Spat (Cr irginica 
ways ee ee Eb the floor above were large tanks of 
algae cultures which were dripped into the trays below in appro- 
Deidte amounts to nourish the baby oysters. 
