324 NATURAL SCIENCE. May, 
them together under the throat, and subsequently working them into 
a compact mass, much as yuccasella does the powdery pollen of other 
yuccas. The stamens are often quite violently shaken, so quick and 
energetic are the movements of the moth. 
As the author suggests, the relationship of the Yuccas to one 
another and to the Pronuba moths would be far more intelligible 
could we trace their history, even a short way back, into geological 
time, but as no certainly identifiable Yuccas exist in even the latest 
deposits, this is as yet impossible. 
He thinks it reasonable to suppose that an ancient type, repre- 
sented in the tree-like Y. brevifolia, with an equally ancient type of 
Pronuba, has persisted in the Pacific region, perhaps, for the same 
reasons that have led to the preservation of the gigantic Sequoias in 
the same region, while the more widely distributed species have become 
differentiated, and, with their pollinator, passed to the south under 
new conditions. 
THE ‘‘ ZoOLOGICAL RECORD.” 
In the Report of Accounts of the Zoological Society for 1892, 
there is an item of £937 for ‘‘cost of Zoological Record.” The same 
entry for 1890 amounted to £650, and for 1891 to £420. There is no 
statement as to the reason of this enormous increase—a somewhat 
unfortunate oversight on the part of those who drew up the Report— 
and it is well that the matter should be explained. The £937 not only 
includes the Record for 1891, but includes a great part of the Record for 
1890. The ‘sales’ for this invaluable compilation were, in 18go, 
£298; in 1891, £266; in 1892, £354; a net improvement in the last 
year of the three of £56. ‘ 
It seems rather difficult to believe that a volume like the Zoolo- 
gical Record should only enjoy the ridiculous sale of barely 250 copies ; 
and it is certainly most praiseworthy that the Zoological Society, 
despite the annual loss, refuses to allow the good work it is doing to 
fall to the ground. Surely there is no museum or laboratory in 
existence that can afford to neglect zoological literature to such an 
extent as to refuse to subscribe to the Record; and yet it is hard 
to believe that there are only 250 museums or libraries of repute in 
the whole world. There is certainly no other Record that is any- 
thing like so up-to-date as the Zoological Society’s publication. It 
has always been a matter of regret that some amicable under- 
standing has not been arrived at by the Royal, the Linnean, the 
Geological, and the Zoological Societies which will allow the 
proper listing and publication annually of a complete literature of 
the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms. The Zoological Society, 
despite the enormous outlay required by the Gardens, cheerfully bears 
the whole of the expense of providing students of zoology with 
