NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



THE ' LANCASHIRE ' NATURALIST. 



The Editor of the Lancashire Naturalist seems greatly 

 ■concerned that a note referring to his county should have been 

 sent to our journal, but he has ' since received a full explanation 

 of the circumstances, which is wholly satisfactory'! We do 

 not know what the explanation was, nor how the editor dare 

 have demanded one, but probably the author of the note wished 

 his find to have wider publicity than it would have received 

 in the Lancashire Naturalist. We would here take the oppor- 

 tunity of pointing out that The Naturalist has printed notes 

 bearing upon Lancashire, as well as other northern counties, 

 more than half a century before the Lancashire journal saw 

 the light, and the appearance of the latter journal has not 

 caused us to alter our polic}^ Nor has the fact that our 

 contemporary has included Cheshire, Derbyshire, Westmorland, 

 the Lake District, the Isle of ]\Ian, etc., under ' Lancashire,' 

 necessitated The Naturalist neglecting those districts. And 

 if ' Yorkshire' were included under the ' Lancashire ' Naturalists' 

 scope, our own journal would probably still live. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



As a matter of fact, we welcome new publications — particu- 

 larly local ones. During the past few years we have noted the 

 birth of dozens, and as surely have we soon after recorded their 

 decease. Unless our memory fails us, even the Lancashire 

 Naturalist came to an untimely end, but was subsequently re- 

 vived. But it will not achieve success by pillorying people who 

 do not care to hide their notes in the pages of a small provincial 

 bushel. An author has a perfect right to send his notes where 

 he will. There have been two or three, possibly more, 

 in the Lancashire Naturalist, which we might have considered 

 sufficiently important and generally interesting for the pages 

 of The Naturalist, but we have not demanded any ' explana- 

 tion ' as to why the papers were not sent to a journal which 

 has been serving the interests of northern naturalists for over 

 three-quarters of a century. 



LOCAL PUBLICATIONS. 



The reference to local journals reminds us that from time 

 to time, whilst welcoming new publications of strictly local 

 interest, we have deprecated these unless there is a probability 

 of their continuance. On our shelves, in a special ' By-gones ' 

 corner, at the present moment there are man}' 'Vols. I.' or ' Parts 

 L ' of scientific publications, which have not been followed up 

 by others. In other cases, two or three parts have appearecl, 

 and no more. As some of these have contained important con- 

 tributions to science, it is unfortunate. Librarians do not care 

 to stock incomplete publications, and, as we know from ex- 

 perience, it is often very difficult to find a single copy of some of 



zgij Mar. i. '^ 



