132 Miscellaneous. 



and their nests, mounted so as to represent the actual surround- 

 ings ; this was initiated by Dr. Sharpe, who procured the first of 

 these natural groups, that of the Coots, at Avington Park, in 

 Hampshire. 



Dr. Sharpe was promoted to the rank of Assistant-Keeper in 

 1895 ; he was the author of numerous books and memoirs in 

 addition to those already mentioned, a successful and popular 

 lecturer, and an honorary member of many scientific societies both 

 at home and abroad. He was elected Officier de l'lnstruction 

 Publique in 1901, and amongst the distinctions he gained were the 

 degree of LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen in 1891, the gold 

 medal for science awarded him in the same year by the Emperor 

 of Austria, and the presidency of the Fourth International Ornitho- 

 logical Congress in 1905, honours the more prized as they were 

 won entirely by merit and hard work. 



He will be mourned by naturalists throughout the world, by 

 thousands who have derived instruction and entertainment from 

 his lectures and his popular books, and especially by the colleagues 

 who will miss his friendly help and genial presence ; but the 

 national collection of Birds will remain as a magnificent record of 

 a life of devoted and unceasing activity. C. T. E,. 



On the Dates of Publication of Costa's 'Fauna del Regno di 

 Napoli,' 1829^1886. 



This work, begun by 0. G. Costa in 1829 and continued after his 

 death by his son Achille Costa, was issued in fasciculi of varying 

 amounts of text. A single leaf of brownish-yellow paper bearing a 

 rough collation of the subjects that had appeared up to the end of 

 1875 was issued by Gustav Lange. This collation refers to 117 

 fascicules, but their contents are not given, and no reference is 

 made to any dates. 



The dates, however, are not so puzzliDg as appears at first sight, 

 owing to a singular method of dating by the printer, which, as the 

 only means of information now available, may be accepted as very 

 close to the truth. These printed dates will be found on the back 

 fold or near the back fold of the sheet or half-sheet or single leaf, 

 for each appeared as necessitated by the amount of matter in the 

 printers hands. Sometimes, if the sheet is not folded truly, the 

 date can be seen by widely opening the bound volume, but fre- 

 quently the sheet is folded truly and the date has perished under 

 the binder's glue ! 



As the full list of dates runs to twelve closely written foolscap 

 pages of MS., I do not propose to ask you to do more than to note 

 that this MS. of mine is available for reference at the British 

 Museum (Nat. Hist.) to any one who is desirous of ascertaining 

 any particular date. It may be well to mention that I have not 

 been able to find that the printer so dated any part of the Lepi- 

 doptera except the " Geometri, Bombicoidi, and Cocliopodi." 



C. Davies Sherbobit 



Nov. 25, 1909. (' Index Animalium '). 



