158 



PSYCHE. 



April 1SS4. 



louiid the most convenient air 'n<j;enient 

 to lie that hv authors, alphaheticallv and 

 with titles arranged alphalielicallv under 

 the names of the authors, the index 

 being relied on for reference bv subjects 

 or in any other manner desirable. This 

 requires, so long as the index is made 

 by the use of the current numeros, the 

 presenation of a copy of the record in 

 its original form. 



During the past three years I have been 

 engaged, amidst other duties, in writing 

 that bibliography of economic ento- 

 mology which was projected by the 

 United States entomological commission 

 in 1881,^ and was turned over to the 

 United States Department of agriculture 

 upon the extinction of the commission. 

 This I have prepared strictlv in accord 

 with the methods adopted in Psvche, and 

 I have hopes that it may appear so, when 

 published. It has been necessarj' to 

 index this in large part in advance of its 

 publication, and while yet it was in pro- 

 cess of formation, so that tlie current nu- 

 meros were not yet attached tt) it. Under 

 these circumstances the reference has 

 been made in every case by the citation 

 of the name of the author and of the 

 title of the article. This method of 

 reference, though less compact than the 

 mere citation of a numero, has the ad- 

 vantage of being universally applicable, 

 wherever the title may be found under 

 the author's name. 



The convenience of reference by a 

 single series of numeros to the whole 

 of the bibliography, however extensive 

 it may become, seems to me one of the 



^ circular la of U. S. entoinnIogic;iI commission, Jan- 

 uary ist, 18S4. 



most desirable features to be embodied 

 in such a work. 



One of the greatest objections to the 

 aniUKil records of literature, or to anv 

 other partial l^ibliographv. from a bib- 

 liographical standj^oint, is in the neces- 

 sity, there present, of consulting many 

 indices to find all the references to a _ 

 single subject. No other form of refer- 

 ence is so compact, so definite and by 

 so easily understood a S3'mbol, as a sim- 

 ple numerical reference. With .such 

 means of reference available, new indi- 

 ces, coinplete to date, can be published 

 from time to time, more readily than 

 imder any other circumstances, 



I have now sketched briefly to you a 

 few thoughts upf)n the desirable features 

 of a permanent, complete, simple bib- 

 liography, convenient of reference. I 

 have assumed that the characteristics of 

 such a bibliography, are to be found in 

 Psyche. It is true that the biblio- 

 graphical record of Psyche is not com- 

 plete, but that is not the fault of its 

 plan ; only the misfortune of its circum- 

 stances. However umeasonable it mav 

 be to hope that these circumstances will 

 yet so change, that the record in Psyche 

 may be made complete, I still hope it 

 may see better days. If I am not astray 

 in my appreciation of it, it will at least 

 serve as a model. 



I hope yet to sec an index to the liter- 

 ature of entomology, which will em- 

 body the features I have set forth, or 

 better ones. .Such a work could well 

 be imdertaken in connection with the 

 work of some scientilic station where en- 

 tomology is a special feature, and which 

 is provided with the necessary means 



