SYNOPSIS. An international collection center for type-speci- mens of protozoa belonging to the subphylum Ciliophora has been set up at the University of Illinois through the cooper- ation of the Museum of Natural History there. The writer will act as curator of slides deposited in this central collec- tion. Syntypes are solicited from all protozoologists interested in ciliate taxonomy who may possess such specimens. In ac- cordance with provisions of Article 72 of the International

NCOURAGED by assurances of cooperation and E help from many colleagues in Europe and Amer- ica, I have planned for several years to establish a collection center a t the University of Illinois for type- material specifically related to protozoan species be- longing to the subphylum Ciliophora. This has now been made possible through the kind aid of Professor Donald F. Hoffmeister, Curator of the Museum of Natural History, and the indispensable financial assist- ance of a National Science Foundation grant.

The great need for recognition of types in proto- zoology and for creation of internationally central repositories to house such type-material has been stressed very recently by Weiser(l3) and the writer (4,s). The points clearly emphasized in these pub- lished discussions of various aspects of the overall problem need not be repeated here. The rather sudden and widespread awakening of interest among proto- zoologists‘ in preservation and use of such taxonomi- cally important material has probably stemmed pri- marily from two factors. One is the greater awareness today, in work which is becoming increasingly difficult because of the rapid growth in numbers of the de- scribed species involved, of the immense value in hav- ing fixed preparations of the organisms themselves, rather than solely published accounts, when attempting the comparative studies necessitated in revision of groups a t the lower taxonomic levels. Also of great influence, and of essential importance, of course, has been the availability, in modern times, of cytological techniques which permit preservation of specimens in a condition satisfactory for fruitful re-examination by

J. PRUTOZOOL. l O ( Z ) , 247-249 (1963).

Establishment of an International Type-Slide Collection for the Ciliate Protozoa*

JOHN 0: COlRLISS

Department of Zoology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois

* The support of National Science Foundation grant GB-162 is gratefully acknowledged.

1 Students of the Foraminiferida, in particular, and of cer- tain other groups containing fossilized material or possessing tests or loricae of durable inorganic composition, represent important exceptions to this implied charge of general neglect and/or indolence. With regard to workers on the taxonomy of soft-bodied ciliates, Kozloff and Laird may be mentioned as among the few who, in recent years, have conscientiously designated type-material.

247

Code of Zoological Nomenclature, all material received will be properly handled and indexed and regarded as “the prop- erty of science”; preparations will be made available on loan to qualified workers anywhere who need them temporarily for research purposes. Existence of such a type-slide collection should aid in alleviation of a growing number of vexatious problems in the systematics of the ciliate Protozoa at specific and generic levels.

subsequent workers, even after a long period of years. For most ciliates the advent of methods of silver im- pregnation (see 1, 6, 7, 9, 1 1 , 12 for up-to-date dis- cussions of the use and usefulness of these techniques) has made possible an ideal way of preserving excellent specimens indefinitely: investigators describing new species need only to be encouraged to use one of the methods and then to designate certain of their silver preparations as type-material.

PROPOSED HANDLING OF MATERIAL

Although I am willing to act as curator of a general ciliate research collection of permanent preparations made by any workers, past or present, I am particu- larly interested in gathering together type-specimens. Slides from older, personal collections which contain specimens used in original descriptions of species now well-established fall into this category, as well as preparations presently serving as the basis for new species in comparative studies by contemporary work- ers. Upon receipt of such preparations the following steps will be followed:

1. Acknowledgment confirming safe arrival of the material will be made immediately. I shall also inform the donor of the condition of the slides. An earnest plea is made here that all preparations be packed carefully, preferably in a wooden container of some sort. Glass slides are extremely susceptible to break- age when sent in letter-envelopes or wrapped only in cardboard !

2. The preparations, identified as to kind of type- material, will be given a catalogue number and entered in the permanent records of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Illinois. Such a procedure is in accordance with the universally accepted provi- sions of Article 72 of the International Code of Zo- ological Nomenclature( 8). The Museum already houses numerous type-specimens of both vertebrate and invertebrate animals, and the Curator (D. F.

248 TYPE-SLIDE COLLECTION FOR CILIATES

Hoffmeister) and his staff have had years of experience in the safe and proper handling of such taxonomically valuable zoological material. I shall seek their advice freely, in my role as keeper of the present collection.

3 . All slides will be uniformly labeled, utilizing data supplied by the donor, and filed according to the taxo- nomic position of the species involved. The scheme of classification followed for the higher taxa will essen- tially be that recently published by the writer(3) and adopted by the Committee on Taxonomy and Taxo- nomic Problems (B. 11. Honigberg. chairman) of the Society of Protozoologists. Slidefinders will be avail- able (and can be sent out on loan with slides) to facilitate the finding of any specifically designated specimens present on a given slide-preparation.

4. The slides will be made universally accessible to research workers who need to esamine them in their tasonomic studies, especially if such investigations are of a comparative or revisory nature. Holotypes or neotypes, with only rare exception, must be studied “in situ”; all other type-material? ( paratypes, paralcc- t o f y p e s ) may be mailed out on loan, for a stated period of time. to the institution in which a qualified specialist in ciliate systematics is carrying out his work. Acknowledgment of the source would be appre- ciated in publications resulting from any such use of the slides.

5. From time to time up-to-date lists of the slides comprising the collection will be published or other- wise made available to interested persons.

VALVES OF THE CQLLECTIOS

Because protozoologists. as a group, have generally shown little interest in designation of types when de- scribing new species or in depositing type-material in a recognized scientific or educational institution (as strongly recommended by the International Code of Zoological ii’omenclature) , establishment of the ciliate collection center a t the University of Illinois would appear to be of potential value in several ways:

1. Its anticipated service in future taxonomic work in which availability of past type-material would help immeasurably should be as great in the case of these protozoan specimens as the use of metazoan type- specimens has been for scores of years in solving syste- matic problems in various invertebrate and vertebrate groups. Knowledge that such material is housed in a single, conveniently located repository, from which it may be borrowed without cost upon proper request, should increase its usage-to the betterment (one hopes) of many future publications concerned with the

See .4rticles 71-75 of the revised International Code of Zoological Somenclature (8) or the invaluable textbook by Mayr et aL(10) for detailed consideration of the kinds of types of animal species; a brief description is available in m y paper on nomenclatural practices in protozaology(5, p. 3 2 1 ) .

taxonomy of ciliate genera and species. The group of specialists presently committed to preparation of sec- tions (fascicles) of a proposed single systematic treat- ment (to be edited by Jean Dragesco and the writer) of the 6,000 species belonging to the subphylum Cilio- phora will serve as an appropriate example of workers who will wish to take full advantage of type-speci- niens wherever they may be found.

2. Taxonomically important preparations, the exist- ence of which may be little known at the present time, will come to be universally available if they are “re- discovered” by some discerning worker and donated to the University of Illinois Museum of Natural His- tory. Active protozoologists everywhere are here re- quested to aid the growth of the center in such a way, as well as by contributing syntypes from their own research collections.

3. Present and future workers may become more willing to designate type-species and preserve type- specimens upon realization that their labors in such work will not go unrecognized. Their actions are cer- tain to be noticed and followed by an increasing num- ber of investigators, with the result that such prac- tices, long common among systematists of other animal and plant groups, may in time become widespread among protozoologists of the world.

4. There is a growing inclination among zoological nonienclaturists toward requiring, rather than just rec- ommending, deposition of type-material when an or- ganism is described as a new species(8.10,13). The availability of recognized centers for such type- specimens encourages workers to comply with this not unreasonable suggestion, if their material permits such preservation without too much difficulty.:j I n fact, as I have noted elsewhere(4), such a provision, even i f optional, might serve as a prophylactic to the disease of new-species-naming, an affliction still all too common in parasitology and protozoology.

5 . By focusing attention upon type-specimens of species, the existence of such a central collection as the one for ciliates described in the present paper may aid in creating more interest among protozoologists generally in the “type-concept” in zoology. I t would certainly be helpful i f more protozoologists became familiar with the major provisions of the recently re- vised International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ! Jn connection with work on the type-specimens. I should be pleased to help in any way possible regard- ing pertinent nomenclatural questions or problems,

3 In protozoology this might lead to the highly desirable re- sult of production of better preparations of the organism being studied. A s mentioned briefly a t the beginning of the present paper and as stressed recently by a number of investigators (e.g., 2 .7 .1 1) . methods of silver impregnation are practically indispensable for high quality comparative work in much of ciliate systematics today: and such techniques result in perma- nent preparations of enduring worth.

TYPE-SLIDE COLLECTION FOR CILIATES 249

such as the advisability of designating neotypes for certain important species of ciliates whose original material has been irretrievably lost.

In concluding this announcement of the establish- ment of a central collection for ciliate type-material and my brief plea for contributions of suitable prepara- tions from workers everywhere in the world, I should like to make several additional remarks.

U’hen several slides contain specimens the study of which served as a basis for description of a new species, not every preparation in the series need be submitted to a single repository. One slide should contain the “holotype,” which is the type-specimen; the investigator may wish to retain this slide, sending preparations containing additional syntypes (the “paratypes”) to the central collection. The Inter- national Code of Zoological Nomenclature( 8) ) how- ever, actually recommends that the holotype or lecto- type material be deposited in “a museum or other institution”; in which case the worker would be well advised to retain all or some of the additional syn- types in his own private collection. Neotypes must be deposited in a recognized institutional research collection.

I am well aware of the present universal dearth of ciliate type-specimens ! The Illinois central collection may be destined to remain relatively small for several years. But its usefulness will increase with its growth in size, a growth totally dependent upon the generosity of colleagues in every part of the world. As mentioned briefly above, any ciliate research slides will be grate- fully received and treated with care, but only type- material (which will be housed separately) is legalis- tically of taxonomic-nomenclatural value.

Finally, I should make it very clear that the univer- sal availability of such permanent, fixed preparations

This is essentially only theoretically true for most proto- zoan material: scores or even hundreds of specimens, provid- ing the viewer with all sorts of aspects of the organism’s micro-morphology, are frequently available on a single slide- preparation.

of organsims does not furnish a panacea for solving all taxonomic problems involving species of ciliates! In comparative or revisory work it will always remain most highly desirable that the investigator be able to study living material, and this in abundance. The original text and figures of the first, as well as subse- quent, describers of species are also indispensable in such investigations. But examination of type-material, unfortunately so rarely available to date, might well supply the crucial information needed to make the proper taxonomic or nomenclatural decisions in a given case.

REFERENCES 1. Corliss, J. 0. 1953. Silver impregnation of ciliated pro-

tozoa by the Chatton-Lwoff technic. Stain Technol. 28, 9 i - 100.

2. __ 1956. On the evolution and systematics of cili- ated protozoa. Syst . Zool. 5, 68-91, 121-40.

3. - 196 1. The Ciliated Protozoa : C haracterixtio n , Classification, and Guide t o the Literature. Pergamon Press, London and New York.

4. ~ 1962. Taxonomic procedures in classification of protozoa. Syntp. SOC. gen. Microbiol. 12, 37-67.

s. - 1962. Taxonomic-nomenclatural practices in pro- tozoology and the new International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. J . Protozool. 9, 307-24.

6. - 1963?. Fixing and staining of protozoa, in Lacy? D. & Palay, S. O., The Microtomist’s Vade-Mecton (Bolles Lee), 12th ed., Churchill, London. ( In press)

7 . Dragesco, J. 1962. L’orientation actuelle de la systPma- tique des ciliks e t la technique d’imprCgnation au protkinate d’argent. Bull. Micr. Appl. 11, 49-58.

8. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature adopted by the XV International Congress of Zoology, London, July 1958. 1961. London.

9. Klein, B. M. 1958. The “dry” silver method and its proper use. J . Protozool. 5, 99-103.

10. Mayr, E., Linsley, E. G. & Usinger, R. L. 1953. Meth- ods and Principks of Systematic Zoology. McGraw-Hill, New York.

11. Thompson, J. C., Jr. 1960. 4 protozoan “fingerprint.” T w t o x News 38, 258-9.

12. - 1962. The buccal infraciliature as the distin- guishing characteristic in the ciliate order Hymenostomatida. (Abstr.) J . Protoeool. 9 (Suppl.), 12.

13. Weiser, J. 1963. Type collections of protozoa and tax- onomy. Proc. 1st int . Conf . Protoeool., Prague, August 1961. ( In press)