1 64 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



the literature of any subject. It has suffered in reputation 

 very much, owing to its incompleteness, its omissions being 

 very numerous, and too often both surprising and inexcusable. 

 You have only to compare the volumes from Naples with those 

 of the Record for the corresponding years to satisfy your- 

 selves that the criticism made is perfectly just. When, there- 

 fore, you consult the Record, you will usually find that there 

 are other perhaps important articles on your subject besides 

 those cited in the Record. The English standard of bibliog- 

 raphy appears to me not to be very high either in regard to 

 practical details of arrangement, or in regard to thoroughness. 

 I remember that when Mr. Scudder prepared his list of sci- 

 entific serials he found a large number which were entirely 

 overlooked by the Royal Society in their great catalogue. In 

 1870 a special association was formed, which many naturalists 

 joined, for the object of continuing the Record. In 1887 the 

 publication was assumed by the Zoological Society. The 

 yearly Record is sometimes more or less incomplete ; thus in 

 the volume for 1894 the reports on Crustacea, Arachnida, 

 Myriapods, and Vermes are lacking. Incredible as it seems in 

 such a work, there is no index of authors, but only an index of 

 new genera ! In fact, the Record has its chief value as an 

 assistance to the systematic zoologist. 



The Zoologischer Jahresbericht, published by the Zoological 

 Station at Naples, is a very thorough and admirable work. Its 

 first seven volumes (1879-1885) covered the whole field of 

 zoology, but since then it has omitted all systematic work, 

 leaving that for the Record. Its matter is well arranged, 

 and so indexed and printed that it is easy to find what 

 one seeks. In brief, it is indispensable for every zoological 

 laboratory in which anything higher than elementary work 

 is attempted. 



B. Periodical Bibliographies. Under this head we have 

 to pass in review a series of journals appearing at short inter- 

 vals. These journals form two natural classes : first, those 

 specially devoted to bibliography, all of which publish short 

 original articles ; second, those which are chiefly devoted to 

 short abstracts of articles published elsewhere. 



