An Introduction to the Botanical Type Specimen Register

programming and for the maintenance and query-
ing of the machine files. Morse wrote the COBOL
program for concatenating the data into the para-
graph form used in the Carex Catalog. Meadow's
analysis and design resolved some basic unforeseen
problems that arose after using the pilot system for
a time, and her efforts resulted in the operational
system that continues to serve very well. She has
played a crucial role in the success of the project
and continues to provide advice and guidance on
matters of systems development. Several botanists
who also have experience with computer applica-
tions have provided valuable advice trom time to
time: Theodore J. Crovello, University of Notre
Dame; David J. Rogers, University of Colorado;
and James H. Soper, National Museum of Natural
Sciences, Ottawa.
Technical help in editing and capturing data
has been given by the following persons, listed in
the order in which they were hired, some as em-
ployees of FNA and others as employees of the
Type Register project: John Bolduc, Nancy How-
ard, Barbara Bryant, Grace Rickard, Edna Mont-
ford, Mary Beth Moore, Barbara Halter, Gudrun
Christenson, and Rita Abessinio. Julia E. Taylor
and Liliosa Mangosing Evangelista have been cheer-
fully indispensable in discharging the myriad
clerical and administrative tasks without which a
project of this nature could never succeed.
In addition to receiving regular budgetary sup-
port on an increasing scale from the Smithsonian
Institution, the Type Register project has been
funded in part by the National Science Foundation
through grants made to the American Institute of
Biological Sciences (GB-844 1, GN-8 12, GB-26 173)
and to the Smithsonian Institution (GB-31715 and
contract C-720) for the FNA program, the Smith-
sonian Research Foundation (grants Sg062 1054,
Sg0621054/Cl and Sg0621054/C2), and the Smith-
sonian Office of Systematics.
Concept and Purpose of Type Register
Perhaps 200 million specimens are on deposit in
the more than one thousand public herbaria in the
world, and scattered among these vast collections
may be as many as 4 million type specimens (Shet-
ler, 1969; Shetler et al., 1971). North American
herbaria alone probably contain more than a half-
million types. Likewise the original publications
SMITHSONIAN COSTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY
describing new plant taxa and establishing their
types are myriad and scattered through the world's
literature. The taxonomist who wishes to make a
scholarly study of a group of species, including an
investigation of their typification, faces the for-
midable task of locating the relevant original de-
scriptions and type specimens. Fortunately for him,
two standard indices, Index Kewensis (Rouleau,
1970; Meikle, 1971) and the Gray Herbarium
(Card) Index (Shaw, 1971), and various standard
library catalogs and union listings are readily avail-
able to guide him to the pertinent literature. No
similar indices exist, however, to guide the taxono-
mist to the pertinent type specimens. To find types
he first must search the original literature case by
case for indications or clues and then, through
travel or correspondence, continue his search in
herbaria among the specimens themselves. Even
with the original descriptions in hand the specialist
often faces great difficulties in trying to determine
where the types are deposited. The modern litera-
ture still shows an astonishing lack of standardiza-
tion in the way types are designated and their
herbarium deposition indicated.
'IVhat the taxonomist needs, therefore, is a find-
efs guide to the type holdings of at least the world's
major herbaria. This guide should be indexed pri-
marily by taxon but also cross-indexed several ways,
and it should include citations of the original pub-
lications and basic collection data as provided by
the specimen label and/or published description.
Such an index ultimately would incorporate and
enhance the functions of Index Kewensis and the
Gray Hcibar.ium Index. This type of registry could
become effective at once for newly published taxa
if taxonomists would agree to require registration
of all new taxa and type depositions at the time of
publication as a condition for effective publication.
Furthermore, the registry, if computerized, would
be the logical central repository for specialists' an-
notations on typification, especially with respect to
lectotypification and neotypification. Plant taxon-
omy desperately needs an effective central place and
straight-forward procedure for registering lecto-
types, neotypes, and specialists' conclusions about
other kinds of types.
The Botanical Type Specimen Register, as con-
ceived, therefore, is to serve primarily as a finder's
guide for locating type specimens. The secondary
function, however, is to serve as a guide to the