corrections, by ineans of which l the index is 

 brought down to January 1, 1904.' 



In the ' introduction ' (pp. 8-69) there is 

 first a statement of the history and purpose 

 of the work. From this it appears that the 

 work was begun by Dr. C. Hart Merriam about 

 1884, and was taken in hand by Dr. Palmer 

 in 1889, who continued it, aided by competent 

 assistants, till its completion in 1903, it being 

 carried on in connection with the systematic 

 work on mammals conducted by the Biological 

 Survey. Under ' acknowledgments ' special 

 mention is made of the careful and painstak- 

 ing work of Miss Thora Steineger, who spent 

 much time in several of the leading libraries 

 of Europe in verifying references, besides 

 rendering important clerical assistance in 

 Washington throughout the progress of the 

 work. Especial thanks, on behalf of the users 

 of the index as well as the author, are also 

 rendered to Mr. F. H. Waterhouse, librarian 

 of the Zoological Society of London, who, on 

 learning of Dr. Palmer's work, generously 

 placed in his hands a large amount of manu- 

 script he had already prepared for a similar 

 undertaking. 



The introduction treats in much detail all 

 the principal questions, moot and otherwise, 

 that relate to nomenclatural usage. Under 

 ' ^References and Dates ' is considered the im- 

 portant question of what constitutes publica- 

 tion, and the necessity of determining, and 

 respecting, actual dates of publication, which 

 are often difficult to ascertain. In this con- 

 nection is presented a useful list of special 

 papers giving dates of publication for works 

 issued in parts, and dates of the parts of the 

 ' Proceedings ' of a number of scientific so- 

 cieties and museums. Under 'Authorities 

 and Localities/ and 'Types and their Deter- 

 mination,' are treated important questions of 

 usage about which authorities often differ, as 

 the determination of types of genera, etc., 

 apropos of the author's methods in the present 



