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THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



It would, however, tend to convenience if the index were always 

 similarly placed ; in 1892 it occupies the last pages uf the volume ; 

 in 1893 it follows the "contents" in the front of volume, and is 

 independently paged ; in 1894 the earlier and better position is 

 resumed. 



The Annals of Botany remains what it has ever been — an 

 astounding example of a high- class journal, edited by men of 

 undoubted position, which is devoid of the faintest pretence to 

 anything in the shape of an adequate index. Under " Contents " 

 we have a list of the papers in each part, exactly as they appear on 

 the covers of each as issued ; then comes what is styled an "index." 

 This is in two parts:— "A. Original papers and notes" ; "B. List 

 of Illustrations," the latter further divided into " «. Plates," and 

 "6. Woodcuts." "A" is merely a list, under authors' names, of 

 the headings of the papers, once more taken from the covers of 

 each part. Probably no index ever cost less trouble to make and 

 more to those who want to find out what the volume contains. One 

 wonders that the Clarendon Press, which publishes the Annals and 

 deservedly holds a high place in matters bibliographical, can be 

 content to issue a publication so inadequately indexed." 



The index of the Journal of the Linneaii Society (vol. xxxiii.) 

 shows a tendency to over-elaboration. The introduction of the 

 word " mentioned " when a plant is only incidentally referred to 

 has something to recommend it, for it enables workers to avoid the 

 annoyance of looking up any number of references before arriving 

 at the place where the species is fully discussed ; but this result 

 might be attained by a difference of type. We cannot think it 

 necessary to index every variety and even form mentioned in 

 a monograph ; for example, the fact that Arenaria yramliflora 

 is monographically treated on a given page seems to preclude 

 the necessity of devoting fifteen lines in the index to its 

 varieties and forms. Some of the entries are unnecessarily long ; 

 e.g. "Horse-Chestnut Tree, Preliminary Observations on the 

 Seasonal Variations of Elevation in a Branch of, by Miller Christy, 

 501-506," might assuredly be abbreviated for index purposes, and 

 w^e think the page on which a paper begins is usually considered 

 a sufficient reference. But the fault, if fault it be, is on the right 

 side. 



The Botanical Gazette has a very full index of subjects, in which 

 new names are printed in black type, and synonyms in italics ; 



* It is not only in its indexes that the Annals shows a lamentable want of 

 bibliographical method. In the bibliography appended by Mr. F. F. Blackman 

 to his article on " The Primitive Algae " in the issue for December last, the date 

 of each paper is given after the author's name in an abbreviated form — thus, 

 " Blochmann, F., '85 " ; the title of the paper, which follows, has a reference to 

 the volume of the periodical in which the article appeared, but in no case to the 

 page! Occasionally we have such citations as " '97 a," " '97 b," which appear 

 to indicate separate papers published by the author cited during the same year. 

 Mr. G. S. West's contribution on " The Alga-flora of Cambridgeshire," published 

 in this Journal for 1899, is not included in the bibliography, but is mentioned by 

 Mr. Blackman in a supplementary note in the March number of the Annals, 

 where the date is inaccurately indicated as " '98." 



