382 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov., 



name, so far as the compiler had collected, which had been used for 

 an animal from the earliest times to about 1880. This book, which 

 contained 80,000 references, though necessarily incomplete, was at 

 once recognised as of extreme value, and one may say without 

 exaggeration is absolutely indispensable to zoologists. Scudder has 

 promised a supplemental list of generic names discovered to have 

 been omitted, but this has not yet appeared. 



None of these books, however, offered those advantages to the 

 zoologist that Pritzel offered to the botanist. They dealt with generic 

 names only, while Pritzel dealt with specific names. The example 

 set by Mr. Jackson in botany was followed by Mr. Davies Sherborn, 

 who, on 15 May, 1890, published a scheme in Nature, for an index 

 to the genera and species of all known animals. With some slight 

 modification of the scheme, work was commenced on July 1, 1890, 

 and has steadily progressed ever since. Accommodation for the MS. 

 was provided at the Natural History Museum by the Director and 

 the Keepers of Zoology and Geology, and the MS. is available for 

 reference in alphabetical order of genera to anyone who desires such 

 information. The plan of compilation adopted by Mr. Sherborn 

 differs somewhat from that of Mr. Jackson. Every species has a 

 separate and distinct slip, and every reference is taken from the 

 original source ; a volume is systematically searched page by page, 

 and every species extracted, so that once that volume has been 

 indexed, the compiler never requires to see it again. The slips are 

 all made in duplicate with transfer paper, one set being sorted up 

 into the great alphabet of genera, and the other set tied up and put 

 away under the author of the book. 



By this method not only is one able to see the whole of one 

 author's work collected together, but this second set of slips will 

 remain clean and intact for the final sorting, if publication is ever 

 reached. Synonymy has not been attempted in the strict sense of 

 the word by Mr. Sherborn; that, in his opinion, is more the duty of a 

 specialist, but every time a species-name has been placed in another 

 genus a reference is given, so that when complete and arranged the 

 searcher will be able to find the history of that species-name without 

 trouble, through all its generic vicissitudes. 



The following are examples of the entries : — 



subterranea Anas, J. A. Scopoli, Annus i. 1769, p. 67. 



vampyrns Pteropns (L.), C. Illiger, Prod. 181 1, p. 118 [Vespertilio] . 



panther a Felis, J. CD. Schreber, Siiugth. hi., p. 384 (1777) and 

 586 (1777), pi. xcix. (1776). 



Working alone, and with one small grant from the British Associa- 

 tion, the compiler has already collected about 90,000 references, and 

 as the books are taken as far as possible in order of date from the 

 earlier to the later, a considerable number of the rarer and more 

 obscure publications are already indexed and available. The 

 references are taken from 1758, the date of the tenth edition of the 



