7 lie Scott isJi Naturalist. 99 



publication ultimately of exhaustive accounts of the fauna and 

 flora, the geology, mineralogy, and meteorology of the district. 

 With this view, and with the preliminary reports as a foundation, 

 committees should be formed to continue the work in each depart- 

 ment, and each committee should include in it all the members of 

 the Union who are, or wish to become, students of the subjects of 

 which it has charge. Each committee should appoint the most 

 competent of its members to be director or superintendent of the 

 work. It might not be convenient for the committees to meet 

 frequently, but the business could be carried on by correspond- 

 ence with the director. The biological committees should proceed 

 to obtain information, and to prepare catalogues as follows : — 

 (1.) — Of all that has been written and published on the subject, 



i.e., a complete Bibliography of it, in so far as relates 



to the district. 

 (2.) — Of the collections, public and private, of specimens of 



the species collected in the district. 

 (3.) — Of the names and addresses of persons that are working, 



or have worked, at the subject in the district, including 



those no longer resident in it. 

 (4.) — Of all the species known to have occurred in the district, 



with any notes of interest in reference to their modes of 



life, occurrence, &c. 

 The Committee should also collect information and prepare a 

 statement as to the extent that the various parts of the district 

 have been investigated. 



Having accomplished this preliminary work, the next business 

 of the biological Committees would be to prepare exhaustive 

 catalogues of the species. And with reference to this there is one 

 point that cannot be too strongly insisted on, namely, the import- 

 ance of uniformity in the method of treatment of the various cata- 

 logues. If one catalogue is prepared in one way, another in a 

 different manner, and a third on yet a different plan, much of 

 their value will be lost in consequence of the impossibility of com- 

 paring the results. The plan of the catalogues is a matter that 

 requires mature consideration, and as a contribution to this con- 

 sideration, I offer the following suggestions for the treatment. I 

 shall first indicate the chief points of information that should be 

 given in the catalogue, and afterwards discuss some of the details. 

 The catalogue then should give : — - 



