III. 

 Books of Reference in the Natural Sciences. 



OF all the services that can be rendered to the systematic naturalist, 

 the compilation of books of reference is the most useful and 

 perhaps the most thankless. The general value of these books as 

 time-savers is so great, that it is wise in a journal that endeavours to 

 assist scientific as well as general readers to devote a few pages to a 

 list of those works in the various departments of Natural Science 

 which are found by experience to be of service. 



To anyone studying a particular group of animals or plants, the 

 loss of time, to say nothing of temper, in hunting up references and 

 getting special information is often considerable, and it must be a 

 satisfaction to know that there is in existence a book in which we can 

 find the greater part of the information for which we are seeking, 

 simply by turning over a few of its pages. It may also, occasionally, 

 raise in the searcher feelings akin to gratitude. Such books should 

 be perfect to be of service; a wrong quotation shakes one's faith in 

 the compiler, and if such often occur, the worker is apt to put aside 

 the book with a sigh. Despite the difficulty of attaining this perfec- 

 tion, there are instances of accurate reference books — e.g., Bronn's 

 " Nomenclator Palaeontologicus " — laboriously passed for press, and 

 compared item by item with the original sources, after the manuscript 

 is put into type ; for this is the only way to approach exactness. 

 In other cases, the compiler has been known not even to have seen a 

 proof of his work, which has been allowed to go forth into the world 

 with all its errors uncorrected. There can be little use for such books, 

 though they do occasionally put x»ne upon the track of something 

 previously overlooked. 



In the following list, no distinction has been made between good 

 and bad books of reference ; they have been classified under subjects 

 as far as possible, and notes have been added whenever it has been 

 considered necessary. The list, though obviously incomplete, has been 

 compiled with the help of those most qualified to speak from experience 

 and is offered to those who, working mainly in one field, occasionally 

 wish to stray into another. 



GENERAL LITERATURE OF NATURAL SCIENCES. • 

 British Museum. — Catalogue of Printed Books. This is now nearly complete for the 

 following letters : A— P, U— Z. It is still going through the press, and will be 

 completed in about ten years. 



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