350 . NATURAL SCIENCE. December. 



" Taxocrinus (?) stultus, n.sp., with 3 B, 5 R, and intercalated 

 anal, and with IBr. in three rows. 



" Prothyns recta, n.sp., small, sub-oblong, coarsely striated." 



It is stated on the wrapper of the Proceedings that this paper 

 was first published in the Long Excursion Pamphlet. The date of 

 this is not given, but we understand that a very limited number of 

 copies was issued. A note at the end of the paper states that the 

 author "is at present describing the above species in a Monograph of 

 the Palaeontographical Society." A portion of that Monograph has 

 since appeared, and we are not surprised to find many of these so-called 

 new species again figuring as " n.spp." — for such is the usual custom 

 of the preliminary speciesmonger, who, having secured what he calls 

 "priority" by his precious leaflet, carefully ignores it in all his 

 subsequent writings. Casual comparison of the preliminary list with 

 the Monograph reveals a strange discrepancy: " Anatifopsis P anglica," 

 is now said to differ from A. acuta "in being much more elongate." 

 Moreover matters are not made much better by the publication of 

 figures of some fifteen of these so-called new species without accom- 

 panying text. From some enquiries we have made, we gather that in 

 the present case the author was not altogether responsible for the 

 publication of what he wished to be regarded as a manuscript list. 

 This may throw the blame on to other shoulders, but it does not make 

 matters better for the working naturalist. And as for the Palaeonto- 

 graphical Society, its fifty years should have taught it better. 



The Reduction of Publication. 



Those who sympathise with the remarks that we have had 

 occasion to make on the preliminary publication of incomplete work, 

 will read with interest the following sentences by Mr. Charles R. 

 Keyes in a review, published in Science, of volume v. of- the Iowa 

 Geological Survey : — " As in the previous volumes of this survey 

 there is carried out the highly commendable policy, established at the 

 beginning, of eliminating all matter from the reports that is of a 

 preliminary nature, and of publishing only material that has been 

 carefully digested and classified. In this way the total amount of 

 matter published is not nearly so great as it otherwise would be. 

 With great advantage all work of preliminary character, which so 

 often goes to make up the large bulk of geological publications, is 

 omitted. Thus, only the work in its ultimate form is made public. 

 The set of volumes becomes the ' final ' series, and only a single class 

 of publications is issued." 



We also welcome the co-operation of the Botanical Gazette 

 which, d propos of the duplication of publication, remarks : — " If we are 

 not mistaken, the publication of one paper stating fully the nature and 

 results of a research ought to end publication until further research 



