238 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



beginning of November of that year; the second part (fasc. 5-8 j 

 arrived towards the end of February last; the third part (fascicles 

 9-12), completing the volume, comes at the beginning of June, but 

 the title-page of the volume appeared in the first part, and, like the 

 wrappers of each part, is dated 1900 ! 



The dating of the Bulletin of MUcellaneous Information lias so 

 often formed the subject of comment in the?e pages that there is 

 no need to refer to it further than to say that the volume for 1899 is 

 still incomplete, the last number issued being that for •' September 

 and October" (published in October) of that year. The reference 

 to " Kew Bulletin, 190U, ined." in the Botanical Magazine for 

 November last is thus likely to mislead, as no issue of the Bulletin 

 (save certain appendixes) appeared during 1900. A difficulty 

 may therefore arise as to the authority for the species to which 

 this reference is appended; it is described (/. c) by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, and must, we think, be accredited to him, his citation of 

 " Rolfe in Kew Bulletin, 1900, ined.," being that of an unpublished 

 name. The actual dates of the issues of the Bulletin during 

 1895-98 will be found in this Journal for 1896, 169 ; 1897, 451 ; 

 1898, 239 ; 1899, 399. 



The Joimial de Botanvjue is another periodical in which the 

 convenience of posterity is persistently ignored. The numbers 

 since April, 1899, have been systematically misdated, several 

 bearing the date 1900 not having been issued until the present 

 year ; and as the title-page to the volume bears the date of the 

 nominal year of issue, it will be extremely difficult in the future to 

 ascertain the exact or even nearly approximate period of publication. 



In American periodicals the danger seems to lie in another 

 direction. The dates of publication are given with such absolute 

 exactitude as sometimes to arouse suspicion. For example, the 

 January number of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club bears 

 at the foot of its first page "issued 31 January." The number 

 contains sixty pages and six plates ; can we certainly conclude that 

 the arrangements of the Bulletin are so perfect that no hindrance 

 can possibly arise which may invalidate the entry on p. 1 ? The 

 date on the last number for 1900 is Dec. 29th, in another year it was 

 Dec. 30 ; here it is evident that a very slight delay would cause 

 the new species appearing in the number to date from the following 

 century. The Botanical Gazette is dated on the first page of the 

 advertisements which precede the contents ; the drawback to this 

 plan is that it disappears in the bound volume. I am inclined to 

 think that the best plan yet suggested is that in the first number 

 of Torreya, which states tliat " the exact date of publication of each 

 issue is given in the succeeding number" : certainly by this method 

 accuracy should not be difficult. 



The matter would, however, be most satisfactorily settled if 

 editors would make it a rule, in cases where there is any doubt as 

 to numbers being issued punctually on the first of the month, of 

 placing on the back of the title-page of the volume the exact date 

 of each. If this were always done, folk would know where to 

 look for the intimation, which at present, even when supplied, 



