NATURAL SCIENCE: 



A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress. 



No. 39. Vol. VI. MAY 1895. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



The Bibliography of Zoology. 



WE publish in this number two items of considerable interest to zoo- 

 logists. We have of late drawn attention to the efforts of various 

 people to organise and improve the existing bibliographic service, and 

 we have urged the need for unselfish co-operation and sinking of exist- 

 ing rivalries. We are, therefore, exceptionally pleased to be the means 

 of announcing the fact that the zoologists of the University of Minne- 

 sota intend to devote their remarkable energy to the service of the 

 proposed Central Bureau. The attempt which they were making was 

 deserving of all praise ; and had it met with support and success, 

 such praise would have been unstintingly bestowed. When, therefore, 

 Professor Nachtrieband Mr. Clarke Barrows not merely withdraw from 

 competition, but subordinate their services to an organisation which, 

 though undoubtedly international in character, has been established 

 by other individuals than themselves, they are, we consider, even 

 more praiseworthy than they were before, and have given a better 

 earnest of their good faith than even a million printed cards. Let us 

 hope that other corporations and individuals will follow the admirable 

 example of the vigorous newly-started venture of Minneapolis and of 

 the old-established and solidly-based Avchiv fur Naturgeschichte in 

 Berlin. 



The proposed Central Bureau is also warmly supported by the 

 Zoological Society of France, by the Naples Zoological Station, by 

 almost all the zoologists of Belgium and Holland, including that 

 eminent worker in the cause of scientific bibliography, Mr. Mourlon, 

 the Director of the Belgian Academy of Science, as well as by 

 national committees in Russia, Hungary, and many other countries. 

 It is, therefore, unlikely that England will stand aloof. In the article 

 that Dr. Field has written at our request, he has stated exactly what 

 it is that is required of England, or let us say of the Zoological 

 Society, which in this matter worthily represents England. But on 



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