REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 51 



publication of the classified index of all papers contained in the trans- 

 actions of learned societies and in scientific serials, now in process of 

 preparation at the expense and under the direction of the Royal Society 

 of London. The following extract from a letter lately received from 

 General Sabine gives an account of the character and present condition 

 of this work : 



" Our plan comprehends natural history as well as what are usually 

 called the exact sciences. It is intended to form three distinct cata- 

 logues : first, a catalogue of all the serials included in the publication, 

 with the contents of each in chronological order ; second, a catalogue 

 of all the separate memoirs in all the serials, alphabetically arranged 

 according to the authors' names; third, a classified catalogue of the 

 separate memoirs. The two last named catalogues to contain, in 

 addition to serials, distinct scientific memoirs in the appendices to 

 voyages, travels, &c. We have written in quadruplicate the titles of 

 above 80,000 detached memoirs, all from works (serials) in our own 

 library. We have still in the library more serials, which will give us 

 about 80,000 more titles, which we expect will be the work of the next 

 fifteen or sixteen months. In the mean time we are seeking out for, 

 and adding to, our library, works of the same nature which we do not 

 possess. In this we think you could greatly assist us by lists of Amer- 

 ican publications — serials of course." 



The Institution should contribute in every way in its power to this 

 important work, and should endeavor, when it is printed, to make 

 arrangements by which copies may be obtained at a small expense for 

 the principal libraries of the country. In the way of contributions of 

 some importance to this great enterprise, we hope to be able, in a short 

 time, to furnish the bibliography of North American mammals, birds, 

 several orders of insects, shells, and plants ; and to complete, at no 

 distant period, the whole series relative to the natural history of this 

 continent. 



The first volume of the catalogue of zoological literature from 1750 

 to the present day, by J. Victor Carus, of Leipzic, mentioned in the 

 last report, has been published ; and we would commend it to the 

 patronage of naturalists as the best compilation which has yet appeared 

 of the titles systematically arranged of isolated papers on zoology pub- 

 lished in American as well as foreign journals. 



Among the special donations since the date of the last report, are 

 151 volumes from the Royal Library at Munich, and 193 from the 

 University at Olmutz; 60 from the British Museum, 30 from the 

 Royal Society of Amsterdam, 25 from the Royal Society of Upsala, 

 28 from the University of Utrecht, and 36 from the Royal Observatory 

 at Vienna. 



