March 30, 1871] 
NATURE 
423 

THE ZOOLOGICAL RECORD ASSOCIATION 
FEW weeks since we announced the establishment of 
an association for the purpose of continuing the publi- 
cation of the Record of Zoological Literature. Within 
the last fortnight this new body has been definitely con- 
stituted, its rules settled, and a council chosen to manage 
its affairs. A few words concerning the Association and 
its objects may, therefore, not be out of place. 
The Record of Zoological Literature was commenced 
in 1865 as the private undertaking of its publisher, Mr. 
Van Voorst, under the editorship of Dr. Albert Giinther, 
F.R.S., who in addition to the superintendence of the 
whole, himself contributed no small part of the contents 
of the volume, namely, the portions relating’*to Mammals, 
Reptiles, and Fishes. The remaining groups of animals 
were placed in the hands of Prof. Newton, Dr. Eduard 
von Martens, Mr. Spence Bate, Mr. W. S. Dallas, Prof. 
Reay Greene, and Dr. Cobbold. The extreme value of 
the work to all zoologists was at once recognised by those 
who became acquainted with it ; but, owing to the notorious 
difficulty of making purely scientific publications known 
to the persons mest desiring them, its sale was limited 
even in this country, while the high price of the volume 
kept it almost entirely out of the foreign market. Still pub- 
lisher, editor, and contributors struggled on, some of the 
latter even foregoing the scanty pittance they were entitled 
to receive for their labour. With the third annual volume 
the undertaking would probably have ceased entirely, but 
for the generous intervention of the Biological Section of 
the British Association, which evinced so strong an in- 
terest in its continuance that the Committee of Recom- 
mendations was prevailed upon to sanction a grant of 
1oo/. in its aid—a grant which has since been annually 
renewed. At the same time, chiefly in consequence of 
representations made by influential members of the Asso- 
ciation, the experiment was made of selling the volume 
in three separate parts. But this “division of the records” 
brought no more “comfort” to its supporters than the 
same process did to the hero of “ Locksley Hall;” for the 
result was that, while no doubt a larger number of zoolo- 
gists altogether availed themselves of the opportunity of 
purchasing at a comparatively low price the parts in which 
they were especially interested, a smaller number of entire 
copies were sold, and the publisher’s loss became so con- 
siderable that he positively refused to continue the work. 
At this juncture the Zoological Record Committee of 
the British Association appointed at Liverpool last year, 
after making several attempts to place the work on a new 
footing, arrived at the conclusion that the only way of 
continuing it was by means of an Association with that 
especial object, and set to work to develop itself accord- 
ingly. The process, we believe, was not effected without 
the normal concomitant symptoms of yelk-cleavage, but 
these have been got over, and the embryo is now before 
the world, a promising entity, which, we trust, will, after 
alittle more nursing, maintain an independent existence— 
for that, of course, is the intention of its producers. 
Besides the grant from the British Association before 
mentioned, aid has been rendered for the forthcoming 
volume by the Zoological Society of London, in the shape 
of the interest of a legacy lately bequeathed to the 
Council of that Society for the furtherance of zoological 


science, and a very respectable amount of guarantors to 
the amount of 5/. each stand godfathers to the newly- 
born Association. These consist of nearly all the leading 
zoologists or well-wishers to zoology of the day, and, 
glancing over the list, we find upon it such names as 
assure us that the utmost divergence of views has not 
hindered their bearers from combining in support of the 
cause.* 
And now a few words as to the objects of the Zoological 
Record, and on the manner in which it has been conducted 
The enormous range which Biological or even Zoological 
Science has of late years taken, has produced a corre- 
spondingly enormous mass of literature, a compendious 
knowledge of which is absolutely necessary to every one 
engaged in the study. Many have been the cases when, 
after a long and tedious investigation of some abstruse 
point has been fully or nearly accomplished, the toiling 
zoologist has found his labours forestalled by some one 
else, who has been working also in the same direction, 
and has published the results in some little-known journal 
mayhap only ashort time before. Wedo not say that such 
labour is thrown away ; but it will be admitted that such 
anticipation by another is a sore discouragement, and may 
be anybody’s fate. Now, it is one of the main designs of the 
Zoological Record to prevent, so far as it is preventible, 
this loss of time, and there can be little if any doubt that 
the publication of an annual volume showing what has 
been done must most effectually point out what remains 
todo. An explorer starting off to make geographical dis- 
coveries in Africa or the Polar Regions would have little 
chance of success without knowing what tracts have been 
already visited. Just then, as the publication of maps or 
charts is absolutely necessary to produce original geo- 
graphical researches, so the publication of an annual like 
the Zoological Record is necessary to produce original re- 
searches in those regions of Biology to which it refers. 
The only question is how far the volumes already pub- 
lished have fulfilled their purpose. The recorders, we are 
sure, are content to have the value of their labours judged 
by their fellows, and of what nature that judgment is, the 
unanimous approval of Section D of the British Associa- 
tion is a sufficient test. It must be observed that the ideal 
“record” of its authors is something more than a mere 
“report,” while it is certainly not a “review.” The 
distinction is somewhat difficult to define, and not 
easy to maintain. It may be that the recorders, being 
human, haye not always succeeded in maintaining it ; 
but it seems to us remarkable that they have so nearly 
succeeded. In the first volume this is especially to be 
observed, and since there was no exemplar before the eyes 
of the contributors while working, we must attribute this 
singleness of purpose to the good drilling of Dr. Giinther, 
who originally planned the campaign, wherein he was no 
less the active man-at-arms than the skilful commander- 
in-chief. Various changes have been made in the corps 
of recorders, but of the seven contributors to the first 
volume four took part in the last, while several recruits 
have from time to time been enlisted, and the last muster- 
roll includes Messrs. Rye, Kirby, and Marshall, together 
with Prof. Percival Wright,—Mr. Spence Bate, Prof. 
* To take only afew by way of example, there are Profs- Owen and 
Huxley, Drs. Gray and Sclater, Canons Kingsley and Tristram, Messrs, 
Darwin and Jenyns. 
