240 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1916. 



memoir, a ' List of Works referred to ' (often erroneously termed a 

 ' Bibliography,' even when lamentably lacking all bibliographic 

 details). This should be arranged with the names of the authors in 

 alphabetical order, and with the papers under each author's name in 

 chronological order, the date of publication (month as well as year, if 

 necessary) preceding the title of the paper. In those rare cases when 

 two or more papers by a single author from a single year cannot be 

 distinguished by the month, the letters a, b, &c., may be added. 

 Examples : 



Lambeet, J. Jan. 1900. Etude sur quelques Echinides de I'lnfra- 

 Lias. Bull. Soc. Sci. Yonne, LIII., 3-57, pi. i. 



Meyer, H. von. 1849b. Ueber die Laterne des Aristoteles. 

 Arch. f. Anat., Jahrg. 1849, pp. 191-196, pi. ii. 



The references in the text will give the name of the author followed 

 (or preceded) by the date, with the addition of a precise page-number 

 where required. Examples : 



' Mesodiadema simplex Lambert (Jan. 1900, p. 31), Middle Lias.' 



' The term S clialt stuck , used by H. v. Meyer (1849b), is open to 

 objection.' 



' So early as 1787, A. Parra observed the epiphyses.' 



The plan of arranging and numbering the quoted works in the 

 order in which they happen to be mentioned in the text, and of refer- 

 ring to them by the number, saves trouble to nobody except the writer 

 of the paper at the moment of writing. The method here advocated 

 is nearly, often quite, as brief ; it gives the historical perspective, and 

 it is of itself enough to save a reader familiar with the subject from 

 repeated application to the list at the end. 



The system is essentially the same as that introduced by Professor 

 E. L. Mark in October, 1881 {Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, VI., 

 232, footnote), and recommended in March, 1894, by H. H. Field 

 {Bull. Soc. Zool. France, XIX., 44). Those authors, however, write 

 '81 and '94, instead of 1881 and 1894, a system that could only have 

 been defended had our science begun and ended with the nineteenth 

 century. 



As bearing on this particular question, the Committee would repeat 

 two suggestions made in 1897. First, that the title of a paper (or 

 at least its opening words) should be quoted, as well as the name of the 

 journal from which it is taken. Secondly, that references should be 

 given in full {i.e., seines, volume, pages, date), so that an error in one 

 may be corrected by the help of the others. 



The Committee asks for reappointment, and wishes to state that 

 any inquiries or suggestions will be welcome, and should be addressed 

 to its Secretary at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Eoad, 

 London, S.W. 



