Fate to type material

[Robin Leech]

My PhD thesis was "A revision of the Nearctic Amaurobiidae (Arachnida:
Araneida).

When I was finishing my PhD studies in the late '60s, I made the
intentional decision to "spread" the type material - that is, select a
holotype from this museum's collection in one case, and then from that
museum's collection for another case.

There were three major museums from which I had borrowed material: the
USNM, the MCZ and and the CAS.  My actions were directed mainly by
thoughts of riots, fires and earthquakes.  This way, one whole museum can
"disappear" but there should be enough type material (holotype and
paratype) spread around to ensure that future workers will not have to
designate very many neotypes.

Robin Leech