Deposit of types

[JAMES BLAKE]

Dear Taxonomists,

There is no question in my mind that in these days, the country from
which specimens were collected should be entitled to receive and curate
a set of types when new taxa are named.  However, there should be some
assurance that the country is question has a program that adheres to
the principle that such types are the property of science, not just to
themselves.  There should not be any political issues involved when an
investigator attempts to obtain loans or gain access to the collections
as part of his/her research.

Forgive me for being uninformed, but it would be helpful to know where
in Mexico one deposits type material.  I have a mostly completed
manuscript on deep-sea polychaetes from hydrothermal ventfields in the
Gulf of California collected as part of NSF supported Alvin dives.  It
is not clear to me where in Mexico a set of types from this collection
should be deposited, or which  invertebrate curator should be
contacted.  I am aware that a cooperative U.S./Mexico program has been
established to deal with these issues, but no one has ever told me
where to submit a set of types.

Jim Blake
ENSR, 89 Water Street
Woods Hole, MA 02543