Re: Fieldwork or bust? (Was: Stenopelix valdensis)

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/12/2006 9:56:19 PM Eastern  Standard Time,  
df9465@yahoo.co.uk writes:

<<  museum  collections are, by their nature, unnaturally
biased. 'Cherry  picked'  if you like. For every
specimen in a museum, there are probably a   hundred out
there either in collections made by other   people
(amateurs/private/local collectors: pick your own term
here),  or  simply as specimens not collected and left
in the field. this is not  the  fault of museums: they
can only curate so many specimens, and  of  course,
fragmentary or undiagnostic specimens are not  always
possible or  worthwhile collecting.  >>

That tore it. At the museum I worked with (  and  others that I know) 
everything diagnostic in the way of  vertebrates was  collected with 
statigraphic 
position and compass  reading. At least that's the  way it is on my planet.
The only cherry-picking I saw was done by the guys  in the black hats who  
would snatch skulls if they were in a hurry (and they  usually were).  DV