INFORMATION CONCERNING BOTANICAL ABSTRACTS 



The purpose of Botanical Abstracts is to supply complete citations and analytical 

 abstracts of all papers dealing with botanical subjects, wherever published, just as soon as 

 possible after they appear. Every effort is made to present complete and correct citations 

 with abstracts of original work, of all papers and reviews, appearing alter January 1, 1919. 

 As an adequate index of progress. Botanical Abstracts is of use to the intelligent grower, 

 field agent and inspector, extension worker, teacher and investigator. The international 

 scope of the work should appeal especially to those workers who have restricted library facili- 

 ties. It is hoped that the classification by subjects will prove to be a great aid even to those 

 having access to large libraries, while the topical index should serve a most useful purpose to 

 every one interested in plants. 



The service of Botanical Abstracts is planned for botanists and all workers with plants, 

 throughout the world. All botanical workers connected with Botanical Abstracts in any 

 way receive as compensation for their services only the satisfaction that comes from par- 

 ticipation in a large cooperative movement for the advancement of the science. Although 

 the y)hysical exigencies of the enterprise have made it practically necessary that the actual 

 work of prepaiing the issues be largely done within a relatively short distance from the place 

 of publication, this does not imply that the cooperation is not needed of residents of countries 

 other than the United States and Canada; many collaborators and abstractors reside in other 

 countries. It is physically necessary that the burden of the work and the finding of funds 

 for clerical assistance, etc., should rest largely on North American workers, but the field 

 covered is international and the results are available to all. 



The Board of Control of Botanical Abstracts, Incorporated, has charge of publication. 

 The board is a democratic organization made up of members elected from many societies, 

 as is shown on the first cover page. Each society elects, in its own way, two representa- 

 tives, each for a period of four years. One new member is elected each biennium (beginning 

 January 1, 1921) to replace the representative who retires. In the list on the first cover page, 

 the member first named in each group is to serve till January 1, 1925; the second member in 

 each group is to serve till January 1, 1923. Members are not eligible for immediate reelection. 



The Executive Committee of the Board of Control of Botanical Abstracts consists of 

 five members, elected annually by the Board. It has charge of ad interim affairs not involving 

 matters of general policy. Its membership is shown b}' the asterisks in the list on the first 

 cover page. The chairman of the Committee for 1921 is B. M. Duggar, Missouri Botanical 

 Garden, St. Louis, Missouri. 



The Board of Editors of Botanical Abstracts consists of an Editor-in-Chief and Editors 

 for Sections, as shown on the second cover page. The Editors are elected annually by the 

 Board of Control. Assistant Editors may be appointed by the Editors. Editors for Sections, 

 with the aid of Assistant Editors for Sections, are responsible for editing the material of their 

 respective sections as this is supplied by the Bibliography Committee (from the Collaborators 

 and other Abstractors), and also for citations and abstracts of non-periodical literature. 

 The Editor-in-Chief, with the approval of the Board of Editors, is responsible for the general 

 make-up of the issues, for the final compilations of the author and subject indexes, and for 

 such other details as are left to him by the Editors for Sections. 



The Bibliography Committee of Botanical Abstracts, the membership of which is shown 

 on the second cover page, is appointed annually by the Executive Committee of the Board of 

 Control. The Bibliography Committee is charged with the responsibility of arranging for the 

 prompt citing and abstracting of serial botanical literature. In performing this function, the 

 Committee assigns to individual Collaborators the complete responsibility for furnishing the 

 abstracts of all botanical papers in a specified serial publication, or in a limited number of 

 serials. The Committee is further charged with the duty of maintaining an accurate record, 

 through a system of reports furnished currently by the Collaborators, of the state of abstract- 

 ing in each serial publication. This record enables the Committee to detect and correct 

 delinquencies in the work of abstracting and to keep the work up to date. The number of 

 assigned serials will eventually exceed 2000, for each of v.hich a record of the state of ab- 



