CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 729 
Fries; On the Recent Incursion of Waxwings; On the Arrival of Summer 
Migratory Birds in the Hastings District, 1893-1913; Rare and Unique Sussex 
Oligochets; A Cross-channel current at St. Leonards; and Wealden Floras: an 
admirable selection of local papers. There is, however, one slight omission, 
that is, a headline to each page, which should give the title, abbreviated when 
required, of each paper, and there is one very serious error : the date on the cover 
is correctly given as July 14, 1914, but the only date inside, on the first page, 
is April 18, 1914, so that were the cover removed that would be assumed to be the 
date of publication. There are important new records of species the correct date 
of the publication of which is essential, and this antedates them by three months. 
I need only add that I shall be pleased to hear any comments on my views. 
Though you may think that I have been rather severe in my strictures on those 
who unduly augment the labours of a bibliographer, I hope you will admit that I 
have been so a bon droit. 
The SecReTary announced that no communication had been received from 
the Essex Field Club which had suggested the compilation of an index to the 
publications of Local Scientific Societies.? 
Dr. F. A. Barner (Museums Association) welcomed the practical suggestions 
of the author with regard to methods of publication. They were essentially 
the same as those made some twenty years ago by a British Association Com- 
mittee on Zoological Bibliography and Publication, and distributed widely. 
One point, however, was not dealt with by the author, namely, the distribution 
of authors’ copies in advance of publication; as to this, practical suggestions made 
by the Committee had been adopted by many societies, including eventually 
the British Association itself. The proposal to form a general index did not 
seem of a value commensurate with the labour. Each volume, of course, should 
be indexed, but for the rest the indexes and analytical bibliographies already 
being produced (e.g., Zoological Record) should suffice. He would refer dele- 
gates to a report on the proper method of making up books recently issued by 
the Library Association and reviewed in Zhe Museums Journal. 
The CHartrman said he agreed with the author, and would go still further 
by suggesting that in all cases a paper should begin on an odd page. He 
thought that the publication by local societies of their work would always be 
necessary, inasmuch as, for want of space, that work could not be adequately 
recorded by central or general societies. He proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. 
Hopkinson, which was unanimously accorded. 
Mr. T. SHepparp spoke on the question of the publication of a general index, 
with some doubt as to its practicability. The work was so very enormous. 
With regard to Yorkshire alone, he had been busy with an index now for over 
three years, and when completed for the Yorkshire Geological Society it would 
probably cost well over 1007. Many societies had already prepared an index 
to their publications when they had covered a number of years. These, and the 
well-known general indexes, and bibliographies issued from time to time, should 
suffice. 
Dr. F. A. Batuer regretted that, by the rules of the British Association, a 
premium had been placed on the issue of publications, and thought that aid 
would be valuable to and valued by the smaller societies, which often did good 
work but wisely refrained from needless publication. As for the collection of 
publications made by the British Association, it would be of more value to 
scientific workers if it could be transferred to the Library of the British Museum 
(Natural History), which experienced great difficulty in obtaining very many of 
these local reports. 
Mr. Joun Hopkinson (Hertfordshire Natural History Society) could not 
admit Dr. Garson’s contention that good work was not done gratuitously. He 
was familiar with the methods of management of many of our provincial 
societies, and could testify to the self-sacrificing devotion of their secretaries 
to the duties of their office; some of the best original work was also done by 
amateurs, especially in geological investigations. He could assure Dr. Bather 
that the British Association did not ignore the smaller non-publishing societies ; 
1 A paper by Mr. William Cole, A.L.S., and Mr. Henry Whitehead, B.Sc., 
has since come to hand and is appended. 
