Feb. 27, 1890] 



NATURE 



397 



those unacquainted with Russian, not only to transliterate 

 from that language into English, but also to recover the 

 original Russian spelling, and so to trace the words in a 

 ■dictionary. 



RUSSIAN-ENGLISH. 



With reference to some of the letters a few words of 

 explanation are necessary. 



^/i is adopted in preference to ^^ for r, since this letter 

 is also the equivalent of k in such words as riijpa, which, 

 if transliterated gidra, would lose its resemblance to the 

 word hydra., with which it is identical. 



Although i and n have the same sound, and with a few 

 rare exceptions the letter used in the original may be 

 recognized by a simple rule, it is recommended that 

 the latter should be distinguished by the sign — , since 

 the use of the same English symbol for two Russian 

 characters is objectionable. 



The semi-vowels, i and i>, must be indicated when 

 present, except at the end of a word, by the sign ' placed 

 above the line ; otherwise, the transliteration of two 

 Russian characters might give the same sequence as one 

 of the compound equivalents, and it would become difficult 

 to trace the words in a dictionary. 



As regards the compound equivalents, nine out of the 

 twelve may be at once recognized, since h must always 

 be coupled with the preceding, and y with the succeeding, 

 letter. 



Where proper names have been Russianized, it is 

 better whenever possible to use them in the original 

 form rather than to re-transliterate them ; there is no 

 reason why Wales should be rendered Uel's, or Wight 

 written as Uait. When a Russian name has a more 

 familiar transliterated form, it is advisable to quote this 

 as well as an exact transliteration with a cross reference. 



The system will be adopted without delay in the follow- 

 ing publications : the Catalogue of the Natural History 

 Museum Library; the Zoological and Geological Records; 

 the publications of the Royal Society, the Linnean, Zoo- 

 logical, and Agricultural Societies, and the Institution of 

 Civil Engineers ; the Mineralogical Magazine, and the 

 Annals of Botany ; and it is hoped that the system will be 

 generally used. 



An expression of grateful thanks is due to those who 

 have assisted in the arrangement of this system by 

 criticisms and suggestions ; more especially to Madame 

 de Novikoffand N. W. Tchakowbky. 



The undersigned either accept the proposed system in 

 the publications with which they are severally connected, 

 or express their approval of the same : — 



W. H. Flower, C.B. 



W. R. Morfill 



F. Lo^vinson-Lessing 



S. H. Scudder 



W. H. Dall 



B. Daydon Jackson 



P. L, Sclater 



F. E. Be.idard 



W. Topley 



C. Davies Sherborn 

 I. Bayley Balfour ... 



S. H. Vines 



H. A. Miers 



J. T. Naake 



B. B. Woodward ... 

 J. W. Gregory 



Director, Natural History Museum. 

 Reader in Russian, &rc., Oxford. 

 University, St. Petersburg. 

 U. S. Geological Survey. 

 Smithsonian institution. 

 Bo'. Sec. , Linnean Society. 

 Zoolofiical Society. 

 Zoological Record. 



V Geological Record. 



y Annals of Botany. 



Index to Mineralogical Papers. 

 BritisJi Museum. 



Natural History Museum Library. 

 Natural History Museum. 



THE BOTANICAL INSTITUTE AND MARINE 

 ST A TION A T KIEL. 



PROF. J. REINKE contributes to the Botanisches 

 Centralblati a very interesting account of the Bota- 

 nical Institute at Kiel, and of the Marine Station attached 

 to it, as far as they are employed for botanical researches. 

 The harbour of Kiel is remarkably favourable for the 

 observation of marine Algas and the investigation of their 

 life-history. In brown seaweeds the immediate neigh- 

 bourho(^d is exceedingly rich, being scarcely inferior in 

 the number of species to any other spot on the coasts 

 of Europe. One important order, the Dictyotaceae, is 



