The Benthic Invertebrate Collection dates back to the institution's inception in 1903 and therfore contains samples made by its founding director, Wm. E. Ritter, and other charter biologists. Thus, together with other collections such as those of the San Diego Society of Natural History and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, this collection forms a base line against which local change can be judged. On the other hand, the collection has geographic and bathymetric strengths unequaled elsewhere in this region, if in the world. The collection includes over three quarters of a million invertebrate specimens, including marine mites and insects,from most oceans, especially the Pacific, and it regularly supports a variety of research projects of investigators in the US and abroad as well as locally. Information concerning its holdings have been available in the form of card catalogs dating back to the turn of the century, published catalogs and floppy disks beginning in 1977 and 1985 respectively, and on the Internet since early 1996, and these data bases continue to expand.
The Benthic Invertebrate Collection is presently divided between three buildings. A new building (New Ritter Hall), to replace a seismically unsafe portion of Old Ritter Hall, is presently being constructed with funds provided the University of California by the State Legislature. The Scripps administration has allocated space in this new facility to house the collection. However, while the new space is adequate to house the principal part of the collection now in Vaughan Hall, it is not quite large enough to house all of the existing collection, such as the barnacle collection in Hubbs Hall and some recent acquisitions, under one roof and still provide for future growth. Therefore, this project will provide for the installation of compact mobile storage equipment.
