JANUARY 11, 1901.] 
out the preliminary work, and this Committee 
reported the results of its labors to an Interna- 
tional Council which met last week in the 
rooms of the Royal Society. 
At this meeting, which took place on De- 
cember 12th and 13th, there were present: 
Professor B. Schwalbe, representing Dr. Milkau 
(Germany), Professor G. Darboux, represent- 
ing Professor H. Poincaré, and Dr. J. Deniker 
(France), Professor A. W. Ricker, Sir M. 
Foster, Professor H. E. Armstrong and Dr. L. 
Mond (Great Britain), Professor J. H. Graf 
(Switzerland), Dr. E. W. Dahlgren (Sweden), 
Professor Korteweg (Holland), Dr. M. Knud- 
sen (Denmark), Mr. Roland Trimen (Cape 
Colony), Dr. W. T. Blanford (India), Seftor 
del Paso y Troncoso (Mexico), and M. Metaxas 
(Greece). - Dr. Ludwig Mond represented Italy 
in the absence of Profesor Nasini. Sir Michael 
Foster was elected chairman of the meeting. 
It is proposed that the annual cost of a set 
of seventeen volumes shall be 17/., and on this 
basis it was announced that the number of sets 
subscribed for by the various countries was as 
follows : 
United States of America ............. 68 
Greatpbritaln rere leleletie/omleleleleianaielel 1 45 
Genmanya-eee eee ene Buna ROame aed 45 
EI PANICO veo te vets ease ares cveke a re cv sim) wisaas & aiakerais 35 
italy ees ser aanisthaihtocees aanee Q7 
JADA Nya ie nwa ofene ns atniiey users reese 15 
Shunltzadett le eepocecdy sddodccomeoduboo ra 
ShGUGin. apogee aorpr cen e ancteros conde 63 
MenmMarkejeyjucsicseiisk «isis oevaeteea Ween 6 
iG tenis SrasceacEanacsuobaen ena crcH 6 
INGER? bio | copdedoanoa joan ocadbens 5 
IER CO mays) cr ge oie tevye eit ae were AV afene ci toles 5 
Cape Colony..... hadposaoocsen bed sence 5 
Wand ay ee cmterscicce, sevens hyaleeis sawytarets 43 
RIMINI S —edsaoanatosdapanwopuaserab 4 
Porto pall morse rciieitelisis yeysieiree rec 2 
SouthwAustraliasesen eee oer eerie. 2 
Western Australia ...................- il 
Victoria. ......... bugodnoodoUDEbunoad 1 
One great difficulty in starting an enterprise 
of this magnitude is that a large amount of 
capital is needed to cover the preliminary ex- 
penses and to pay for the printing of the first 
set of volumes, and for other work which must 
be done before the grants from the various 
countries are received, and before any sales of 
the volumes to the public can be effected. 
This initial difficulty was met by the Royal 
Society, which generously offered to advance 
SCIENCE. 
iG 
the necessary capital. This offer was accepted 
by the International Council, which expects to 
be in a position to repay the sum advanced 
during the next few years. 
The Royal Society offered to act as the pub- 
lishers of the catalogue, and to sign the neces- 
sary contracts with the printers and publishing 
agents. This offer was unanimously accepted 
by the InternationalCouncil, which, after care- 
fully examining the clauses of the proposed 
contracts, declared its approval of them. 
The three principal countries which have not 
yet joined in the scheme are Russia, Belgium 
and Spain ; and the Royal Society was asked by 
the International Council to address the Im- 
perial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg 
on the subject, and also to take steps to induce 
the other countries to join in the catalogue. 
A code of instructions for the use of all who 
are taking part in the preparation of the cata- 
logue was considered, and, after some amend- 
ment, adopted. 
In this connection the chief point discussed 
was whether it is desirable to publish complete 
lists of new botanical and zoological species. 
It was decided that lists of new species should 
be published, and that they should, as far as pos- 
sible, contain all the additions to our knowl- 
edge in this direction made within the year. 
It was also decided to include translations in 
the catalogue, but to indicate that they are 
translations. Schedules of classification for the 
subject indexes of the several sciences were 
adopted. 
An executive committee was appointed, con- 
sisting of the four delegates of the Royal So- 
ciety and the representatives of the four largest 
subscribers to the catalogue—France, Germany, 
Italy and the United States. Dr. H. Forster 
Morley was appointed director of the catalogue. 
Finally, it was resolved to begin the work 
on January 1, 1901, and to include in the cat- 
alogue all literature published after that date. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 
Dr. H. C. BuMPuUS, professor of comparative 
anatomy at Brown University and director of 
the Biological Laboratory of the U. S. Fish 
Commission at Woods Holl, has been appointed 
curator of invertebrate zoology and assistant to 
