crocodile tears

[Thomas Lammers]

At 11:46 AM 2/5/00 +0200, you wrote:

>We are discussing endlessly subjects that are  often esotherical, while
>before   the   windows  of our ivory towers  the helpless species are
>dying.  Instead of shedding crocodile tears  about it and go on  building
>our cladograms , it would be more bioethical to go to the field,
>collect,describe,preserve   and leave the   dealing with nomenclatural
>revolutions and discussions about sister groups for a later stage.

Well said!  When the question "What Is a Species?" was raging in the
'Sixties, someone (I've forgotten who) quipped in exasperation, "What we
need is fewer DISCUSSIONS of species, and more STUDYING of species!"

This is especially true for botany and entomology, where there could be as
many undescribed/unnamed  species as described/named species in the world.




Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:                     lammers at uwosh.edu
phone (office):         920-424-7085
phone (herbarium):  920-424-1002
fax:                         920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.
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"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that stood his ground."
                                                 -- Anonymous