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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 

 XXVIII. — Periodical Publications. 



The notes on the dating and indexing of botanical periodicals 

 which appeared in this Journal for 1894 (pp. 180, 271) and 1896 

 (p. 168) have justified their publication, in that certain journals 

 have adopted the suggestions made. The matter, however, is of 

 so much importance, as everyone engaged in bibliographical in- 

 vestigation knows, that I may be excused for recurring to it. It 

 would certainly be a great gain to posterity if some general plan of 

 dating and indexing could be agreed upon, and this should not be 

 difficult, at any rate so far as dating is concerned. 



The following remarks are not intended to be exhaustive. They 

 are based upon periodicals which happen to be readily accessible at 

 the time of writing, and which must be constantly referred to by 

 workers at systematic botany. Certain repetitions will be found of 

 points indicated in the former articles; such repetitions may perhaps 

 be excused on account of the practical importance of the subject. 



Dating. 



Since attention was called to the matter, the Botanische Jahr- 

 hilcher has borne on the back of the title-page the date of each of 

 the parts composing the volume, and in a supplement to vol. xxvi. 

 is given a list of the dates of each part of the preceding twenty-five 

 volumes. There is thus no difficulty in ascertaining the date of 

 publication of any species included in the work. A similar reform 

 has been introduced in the Boletim da Sociedade Broteriana, although 

 here the dates are placed on the back of the last page of the index, 

 where they are likely to be overlooked, and the month only, not 

 the day of the month, is given. 



The Italian periodicals are singularly unsatisfactory, not only 

 in dating but in other particulars. The Nuovo Gtoniale Botanico 

 Italiano appears quarterly, and bears on its wrapper and at the 

 head of each number the month in which it nominally appears, but 

 there is reason to doubt whether this information is altogether 

 trustworthy ; the number dated January of this year, for example, 

 did not arrive until the beginning of March, and the number 

 of the Bullettmo delta Societd Botanica Italiana, dated " Ottobre- 

 Novembre 1900," came to hand on Feb. 5th, 1901 ; this, by the 

 way, is dated only on the cover. Malpu/hla is in even worse case, 

 for the only date on the wrapper is that of the year of issue. It is 

 styled " rassegna mensuale," but never even approximates to a 

 monthly issue ; during 1899, for example, it was published in six 

 parts, containing respectively fascicles 1,2; fascicle 3 ; fascicle 4 ; 

 fascicles 5, 6, 7 ; fascicles 7-10; fascicles 11, 12. The curious 

 Italian custom by which the title-page of a volume is issued with 

 its first number instead of with its last prevents the insertion of 

 the actual dates of publication on the back of the title, and in the 

 case of MalpigJda further conflicts with accuracy. Of the volume 

 for 1900, the part containing fascicles 1-4 was received at the 



