1894- ON RANDOM PUBLISHING. 341 



The British Association, many years ago, rendered a great 

 service to science by recommending the adoption of certain rules for 

 zoological nomenclature. It has assuredly an opportunity of 

 rendering a service of like character, but one of even higher 

 importance and wider usefulness, if it will now take the initiative in 

 devising and recommending methods by which research may be 

 simplified in its literary aspect. 



It is true that the scientific world is not left entirely in a helpless 

 condition. The Nature Novitates, published fortnightly by Friedlander 

 in Berlin, are a substantial assistance. They may be compared to 

 Bradshaw's Guides, which give you a map of the country and tell you 

 what lines of railway there are, what trains run upon them, what are 

 the starting-places, and what is the cost of travelling. Works like 

 the " Zoological Record " may be compared to Murray's Handbooks, 

 which tell you both where to go and what there is to be seen when 

 you get there. Such aid deserves the deepest gratitude. Neverthe- 

 less, the "Zoological Record" itself requires the student of the 

 Protozoa to buy, not only the account of the works in which he is 

 interested, but also the accounts relating to all other classes of the 

 animal kingdom, just as if Mr. Murray were to insist that the 

 purchaser of his " Handbook to Portugal " should pay also for those 

 referring to Russia, Denmark, Italy, and the rest of the series. The 

 British Association is, of course, privileged to survey the whole 

 domain of science ; nor would any of its members wish to see its 

 liberties curtailed. Yet, as an aside, in a stage whisper, and among 

 ourselves, I may venture to deplore the lot of a palaeontologist 

 who wishes to possess the original description of three new species 

 of fossil Estheriae, occupying a couple of pages in our last volume 

 of reports. Bound up with them, he will have the satisfaction of 

 owning 140 pages containing nothing but numerals, 40 of these 

 pages dealing with " The Pellian Equation," a mystery which a 

 zoologist is likely to study with rapt devotion. 



In appealing to the Association to consider whether some order 

 and method may not be gradually introduced into the confused 

 concourse of scientific, and especially zoological, publications, I am 

 perhaps proposing a fanciful, a hopeless, an impracticable task. 

 But even if it should prove that nothing definite could be done, I 

 am persuaded that the discussion itself would be advantageous, by 

 calling the attention of scientific writers to the enormity of the 

 evil demanding a remedy, and the expedience of individual self- 

 denial for the general welfare. In the meanwhile, there are two or 

 three subsidiary points on which it would be easy for the Association 

 to express an opinion, and on which, as it seems to me, such an 

 expression of opinion would not only be valuable but timely. 



Many naturalists, I believe, now wish that the tenth edition of 

 the " Systema Naturae" of Linnaeus should be accepted as the starting 

 point of valid nomenclature instead of the twelfth edition. Still 



