1896. THE DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION. 



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other. Probably, however, works treating of the animals of regions 

 will become more numerous, and an alternative scheme which provided 

 for them in some simple manner would be acceptable. The only one 

 of the Royal Society systems which deals with geographical divisions 

 smaller than continents is Geology, where we have, for example, 

 Europe divided thus : — 



Austrian Empire. 



British Islands. 



France and Belgium. 



German Empire, Holland, and Denmark. 



Italy, Sicily, and Malta. 



Russia. 



Scandinavia. 



Spain and Portugal, Balearic Islands. 



Turkey, Greece, Balkan States, and Islands of Levant. 



The choice of an alphabetical arrangement here is rather incom- 

 prehensible ; it separates Germany and Austria, and we fail to see 

 that it presents any advantage to justify its adoption as against 

 Dewey's : — 



Scotland and Ireland. 



England. 



Germany and Austria. 



France. 



Italy. 



Spain and Portugal. 



Russia. 



Norway, Sweden, Denmark. 



Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, &c. 



Turning to the Animal Kingdom, we demur at the outset to the 

 suggestion that a different classification should be adopted for recent 

 and fossil forms, thus : — 



Recent Zoology. 



Protozoa, Mesozoa, Porifera, Coelentera. 



Echinoderma. 



Polyzoa, Gephyrea, Brachiopoda. 

 (Nematoda, Acanthocephala, 

 (Chastognatha, Gastrotricha. 



Plathelminthes, Nemertini. 



Chsetopoda, Hirudinea, Rotifera. 



Arthropoda. 



Mollusca. 



Fossil Zoology. 



1 Protozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata. 



2 Echinodermata. 



3 Vermes, Molluscoidea. 



4 Mollusca. 



.5 Arthropoda. 

 .6 Fishes, Amphibia. 

 .7 Reptiles, Birds. 

 .8 Mammalia. 

 .9 Traces of Animals (footprints, etc.) I 

 Animals incertae sedis. )" 



Chordata. 



The arrangement of recent animals is undoubtedly more up-to-date 

 than that of Dewey, but as a working system it is vastly inferior to it, 

 doubtless from want of experience on the part of the compiler. To 

 devote a whole decimal place to the Nematoda, Acanthocephala, 

 Chaetognatha, and Gastrotricha, the titles referring to which in a year 

 would probably fill a couple of pages of the Zoological Record, and to allot 

 the same to the whole of the Chordata, the titles relating to which 

 occupied seventy-five pages in the Record for 1894, shows a curious 

 sense of proportion. The same fault is carried still further when we 



