646 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



published all over the world. The last volume of the 

 Zoological Record contains a list of upwards of one thousand 

 periodicals relating to Zoology alone, and, of course, in other 

 branches of Science there is a corresponding number of such 

 publications. It is obvious that even a catalogue of the 

 titles of published papers would be of very great assistance 

 to workers in Science. The idea of forming such a Catalogue 

 was first broached by the late Prof. Henry, of Washington, 

 who brought it before the notice of the British Association at 

 Glasgow in 1855. It was ultimately taken up by the Royal 

 Society, who published the first volume of their i Catalogue 

 of Scientific Papers ' in 1867. This was subsequently con- 

 tinued, until there are now twelve large quarto volumes. 

 which give the titles, arranged according to the authors' 

 names, of all the scientific papers published from 1800 to the 

 end of 1883. A further Catalogue containing the names of 

 the papers published from 1883 to 1900 inclusive is now in 

 course of preparation by the same Society. This will make 

 the " Catalogue of Scientific Papers " complete up to the end 

 of the past century, after which it has been determined to 

 continue it in an annual form, if possible. 



It was apparent that this gigantic task could, best be 

 carried out by international cooperation, and that, to make 

 the result more successful, " subject-indexes " ought to be 

 given as well as the titles of all the new works and papers. 

 An International Conference on this question Avas summoned 

 by the Royal Society, and took place in London in July 

 1896, when delegates from twenty-one countries attended and 

 unanimously agreed that an ' International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature' should be undertaken, and that it 

 should be controlled by a " Central Bureau " in London, while 

 each other country should have a ' ' Regional Bureau " to 

 collect information on the spot. 



At other Conferences held by the Royal Society in London 

 in 1898 and 1900 the scheme was further elaborated, and it 

 was finally agreed that the new International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature should be published in London by the 

 Royal Society in seventeen annual volumes, each relating to 



