August 6, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



131 



rest of the flock. I have sent the damaged 

 skin to the Provincial Museum at Eegina. 



In the summer of 1915, two living albino 

 specimens of Eichardson's spermophile (Oitel- 

 lus richardsoni) were sent to this university 

 from near Hanley, Sask. I saw them, but 

 through carelessness they were both lost be- 

 fore further data were obtained. 



An albinistie crow of a very light brown 

 shade is among the stuffed birds of the uni- 

 versity collection. Beyond the fact that it 

 was taken in Saskatchewan, I have been un- 

 able to learn anything about it. 



John S. Dexter 



Univeesitt op Saskatchewan 



a plea for more explicit designation 

 of scientific reprints 



The library of the Bureau of Fisheries con- 

 tains one of the largest, if not the largest, col- 

 lection of reprints on the subject of aquatic 

 biology. It is the practise of the bureau to 

 make analytical cards of all such separates, 

 copy being furnished the Library of Congress 

 by which the cards are printed. These cards 

 become part of the Library of Congress issue 

 and have world-wide distribution. 



That the cards may be used with confidence 

 by those needing them for bibliographical pur- 

 poses and unable to consult the volumes in 

 which they have appeared, it is necessary that 

 the cards not only show the source of the re- 

 prints but also give the place of publication, 

 date, volume, and pagination. Unfortunately 

 separates are frequently devoid of such data. 

 It is astonishing indeed that a great number of 

 reprints are found to be without indication 

 of the year of publication ; many give no refer- 

 ence to the journal from which they are re- 

 printed; and nearly all lack mention of the 

 place of publication. Frequently the publica- 

 tion in which the article originally appeared is 

 not available; but even when it is at hand the 

 librarian has no right arbitrarily to give the 

 place of pulblication of the original as that of 

 the reprint, unless the reprint so states. Diffi- 

 culty is frequently encountered with reprints 

 which carry only a caption title and bear no 

 date of issue; in such cases, it may be 

 possible to give the date which appears on 



the title page of the volume (provided the 

 volume is available) but frequently the issue 

 of the volume is antedated by the separate. 

 The date of first publication is of paramount 

 importance in certain instances, as every in- 

 vestigator knows. 



The Bureau of Fisheries has endeavored to 

 establish a standard of high efficiency in the 

 bibliographies attached to its publications, and 

 publishes none submitted until they have been 

 fully verified. If all reprints consulted by au- 

 thors compiled with the simple and obvious 

 requirements of bibliographical reference, 

 much labor would be saved and greater accu- 

 racy assured. Under present conditions much 

 time is frequently required, to locate original 

 papers and, failing in this, it is sometimes 

 necessary to return bibliographies to the in- 

 vestigators, only to find that, in some cases, 

 they have seen only the separates and can not 

 therefore authoritatively supply the necessary 

 data. 



It is of course of vital interest to investi- 

 gators that their papers be cited correctly and 

 it is therefore important that every author see 

 to it that his reprints indicate not only the 

 source, but also place, date, volume and pagina- 

 tion. This end could readily be accomplished 

 with the cooperation of editors and publishers 

 of scientific journals, proceedings and transac- 

 tions of scientific societies, and state and in- 

 stitutional reports and bulletins. The slight 

 additional labor involved would be fully justi- 

 fied by the saving of time and worry of other 

 investigators, librarians and editors, and by 

 the prevention of confusing errors of citation. 



Eose M. MacDonald 

 Librarian, U. S. Bureau or Fisheries, 

 Washington, D. C. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 



Report of the Second Norwegian Arctic Ex- 

 pedition in the " Fram" 1898-1902, 4 

 volumes in 36 parts, large octavo, 1907-1919, 

 9 maps, 111 plates, and 2,071 pages of text. 

 Published by the Society of Arts and Sci- 

 ences of Kristiania (Videnskabs-Selskabet i 

 Kristiania), at the expense of the Fridtjof 



