Because this is my first issue to edit of the Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science, I want to tell you something about my approach to editing the journal and hope it will help you understand our process a little better. Editors fulfill these two roles by walking a tightrope between the author and the reader. While some editors maintain that they are the guardians of the language and consequently apply the rules of grammar, spelling, and style and usage with an iron fist, others recognize that access to the information by the reader should take first precedence. Sometimes an author is convinced that no one can improve on the prose in a manuscript. Editors then have to be a bit authoritative, reminding the author that readers are out there and if it wasn't for readers, there would be no outlet for the research the author is doing.
Nothing kills a journal faster than to have readers quit reading it.
I want to establish the dialog that makes for good communication and good science. Do not hesitate to contact me anytime if you have a comment about something you have seen in the Proceedings . Another job the editor has is to solicit papers for the publication. If you have been a longtime reader of these pages, you will have noted that the number of papers, notes, reviews, etc. increases and decreases more or less randomly. This issue contains about the same number of items as did the previous issue.