236 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 34. 



lished with considerable pecuniaiy loss, and 

 that our Bureau is unable to offer any ade- 

 quate guarantee that the loss would not be 

 just as great, unless the guarantee of a con- 

 tinental publisher would sufBce. 



The Bulletin will be divided into a series 

 of chapters, including 1, a general part, 

 and 2, a division into systematic groups. 

 Under each heading will be placed not 

 merely such works as deal exclusively with 

 the matter indicated, but also — as cross ref- 

 erences — any papers containing incidental 

 observations in regard to it. 



The Cards will be issued simultaneously 

 with the Bulletin and will be of the standard 

 Library Bureau size. They will be essen- 

 tially Author's Cards, but will also bear 

 classificatory symbols of such nature that 

 they can readily be placed in a subject in- 

 dex by persons unfamiliar with zoology. 

 Three sets of symbols will be used, each in- 

 dicating a distinct system of classification 

 — systematic, morphological and faunistic 

 — and all based upon a study of the text. 



It is proposed to receive eventually sub- 

 scriptions to the cards relating to limited 

 topics. A student of a special question could 

 then be informed at once of the appearance 

 of each publication touching his particular 

 field, and thus be saved much of the me- 

 chanical labor of looking through the jour- 

 nals for the papers which interest him. For 

 the present, however, larger divisions only 

 of the catalogue can be so offered. 



I have already spoken of the generosity 

 of Geheimrath Dolirn; the further support 

 which the Bureau will receive consists in 



part in the establishment of sub-bureaus at 

 the expense of the nations concerned, i.e., 

 — Russia, Poland — in part in the voting of 

 money ..grants towards the maintenance of 

 the central Bureau: e. cj., the Swiss Federal 

 Board of Education, the cantonal and town 

 Boards of Ziirich, a subscription under the 

 ' Societic Zoologique de France.' In this 

 country' a subscription of $250 in addition 

 to what has already been secured is all that 

 is asked for. It does not seem too much to 

 expect that this sum can be raised in the 

 country as a whole as soon as the learned 

 societies meet again in the fall. 



In conclusion, let me say a few words in 

 regard to the relations of our undertaking 

 to that of the Eoj'al Society. The organ- 

 ization of the Zoological Bureau was already 

 well under way and several committees had 

 been appointed when the circular of the 

 Royal Society came to hand. On receipt 

 of this circular we at once made inquirj' of 

 the Secretary of the Society, Professor Fos- 

 ter, in regard to the probable attitude of 

 the Royal Societj^ towards our undertaking, 

 and were assured that the Royal Society 

 would certainly prefer to absorb, or make 

 one with it, all existing enterprises, rather 

 than to try to rival them with a new one. 

 A more definite answer was at that time 

 impossible, nor can it be given at present. 

 It was, however, all that we could desire, 

 for this was precisely the great difficulty of 

 our task, viz.: that it involved too great 

 personal sacrifices for it to be possible to 

 count with certainty upon its being given 

 us through long periods of time. The Bu- 

 reau is therefore being organized provision- 

 ally for the period of 5 years, so that the 

 work can then be continued under the aus- 

 pices of the Royal Society, provided the So- 

 ciety succeeds in realizing its pi'oject. On 

 the other hand, if the larger plan fails, then 

 the Bureau must live on its own i-esourccs. 

 This is surely a wiser course than to aban- 

 don the undertaking and make useless the 



