TWENTY-NINTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 77 



State Fisheries Laboratory during the past biennmm. Over 100 books 

 were purchased, and an aggregate of about 90 sets or parts of sets of 

 serial publications were received between July 1, 1924, and July 1, 

 1925. At least eighty of these were obtained in exchange for Fish 

 Bulletins Nos. 2-10, and various reprints from California Fish and 

 Game. Most of them are series of which no numbers were previously 

 in the library. In addition, a great many separate back numbers, odd 

 volumes and reprints have been obtained to fill out partial sets already 

 in the library. Since July 1, 1926, another 20 exchanges have been 

 arranged, eleven new subscriptions have been started, and a large 

 number of other items have been requested. 



Several hundred volumes much in need of binding are now well 

 bound, so that loss of loose pamphlets is prevented, and the books are 

 protected from dust, as well as being much easier to consult than 

 they were formerly. 



Card Bibliography. — Considerable progress has been made in build- 

 ing up a useful card bibliography. This has as its basis the cards on 

 fish printed by the Concilium Bibliographicum. These represent a 

 number of books, and more than eight thousand scientific papers from 

 no less than eight hundred and thirty-five distinct serial publications. 

 They have been prepared by consulting whatever volumes (from 1896 

 to date) of various series which happened to be available to the Concil- 

 ium's staff. At first thought one might easily suppose that here was 

 everything for the period covered that a scientist investigating fishes 

 could possbily desire. However, it has been found, by careful analysis, 

 that these cards give very incomplete access to fisheries literature. For 

 our work they are accordingly being supplemented by printed cards 

 from the Library of Congress, John Crerar Library, Queen's University 

 Library, and other sources, and, when these fail, by ou-r own typed 

 cards. All are being combined into one alphabetic arrangement. When 

 this is brought up to date, it will enable an investigator to locate 

 articles by species, by subject and by author. (In most large libraries 

 he would be able to find books on fishes in this way, but not the articles 

 in specialized scientific periodicals.) 



Union List. — A red star on the card shows when a paper sought 

 is to be found in this library. If it is not here, reference to the recently 

 published "Union List of Periodicals in the Libraries of Southern 

 California" often locates a copy in some nearby library, which may be 

 obtained by inter-library loan. The above publication, which lists 

 some of the holdings of the California State Fisheries Laboratory, is 

 a very useful document, and the California Fish and Game Commission 

 may compliment itself upon having helped to finance its publication 

 costs. 



Care has been taken not to duplicate unnecessarily work already 

 well done b}^ the editors of the various printed indexes to zoological 

 publications. It is intended to have our catalog furnish additional aids 

 which these guides lack. 



Distinctive Service. — The library collection now contains the equiv- 

 alent of about twenty-five hundred volumes. Its highly selected char- 

 acter is one of its most significant features. There is no attempt 

 to acquire complete sets of journals unless they are largely devoted 



