244 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 



which both of the writers have become well acquainted, the Car- 

 negie Institution would be spared all danger of risking support to 

 an untried venture or in experimenting with partly understood 

 methods. 



4. Impossibility of Carrying on the Work in Ayiy Other Manyier. — 

 Though previously alluded to, it may be well to state more explicitly 

 the reason why this work, if done at all, must be carried on in the 

 manner here proposed. It might be supposed that the material re- 

 quired for this investigation can be readily secured by exchange or 

 purchase, or perhaps that it might be examined by visiting differ- 

 ent museums. But such is not the case. The material does not exist, 

 and, strange though it may appear, it would be no more impracticable 

 to attempt the study of the fauna of the remotest sea bottom without 

 the aid of specially equipped expeditions than to undertake the re- 

 vision of the European members of a genus of mammals or birds 

 without first procuring material in the same manner ; and what is 

 true of such relatively small questions is equall}^ so of the broader 

 problems on which the proposed work would bear. If all the data 

 now existing in museums were brought together it would be an in- 

 significant fragment of the mass required. 



5. Qualifications of the Writers. — The qualifications of the writers 

 for carrying on the proposed survey are perhaps best indicated by 

 the appended bibliographies of papers published by them dealing 

 with the problems under consideration. 



Papers by Leonhard Stejneger Bearing on the Subjects to be Investigated. 



The following list is limited to the more important papers dealing 

 exclusively with the Palearctic biota. Papers of a more general 

 character, such as descriptions of the countries visited and of 

 the exploration trips undertaken in the region treated of, are not 

 included. 



1871. Ornithologisclie Notizen aus Meran, Sud-Tirol. Journ. f. Orn., 1871, pp. 



122-124. "Nachtrag," torn, cit-, pp. 462, 463. 

 1873. Omithologisches aus Norwegen, I and II. Journ. f. Orn., 1873, pp. 304- 



307- 



1873. Norsk Ornitologisk Ekskursjons Fauna (Christiania), 8vo. XVI and iii 



pp. and 4 lith. pi. (A pocket manual of Norwegian birds.) 



1874. Norsk Mastozoologisk Ekskursjons Fauna (Christiania), 8vo. VIII and 



31 pp. (A pocket manual of Norwegian mammals.) 



1875. Omithologisches aus Norwegen, III. Journ. f. Orn., 1875, p. 167. 

 1878. Omithologisches aus Norwegen (IV). Ornith. Centralbl., 1S78, p. 109. 



