610 ME. 0. DATIB8 snEnBOKN ON A PROPOSED [June 2, 



The following papers were read : — 



1. Explanation of the Plan adopted for preparing an" Index 

 Generum et Specierum Animalium." By C. Davies 

 Shebborn, P.Z.S. 



[Received June 2, 1896.] 



The following description of the work of preparing an Index to 

 the generic and specific names of animals, both recent and fossil, 

 which was commenced by the author in July 1890, has been pre- 

 pared for the Society, at the request of Sir William Plower, 

 Mr. Sclater, and Dr. Henry Woodward : — 



The difficulty of finding accurate and reliable lists of the species 

 of any particular genus was pointed out by Darwin years ago, and 

 impressed itself so strongly on that natiu'alist that he personally 

 endowed the undertaking which we know as the ' Index Kewensis,' 

 recently brought to so successful a conclusion by Benjamin Daydon 

 Jackson. In this book of reference there are some 000,000 generic 

 and specific names of flowering plants. The botanist has now a 

 key to the literature of Phanerogams for 150 years within covers, 

 and all difficulty in keeping pace with present and future descrip- 

 tions of new phanerogamic plants has been removed. 



It is quite otherwise with zoological generic and specific names. 

 Agassiz, Marschall, Scudder, and others have partially catalogued the 

 genera ; Waterhouse has listed the genera of birds ; H. Gr. Bronn, 

 John Morris, and, more recently, E. Etheridge have provided lists 

 of fossil species. But no one book including references to all 

 names that have been given to fossil and recent animals has yet 

 been attempted. The vastness of the record is appalling, but 

 given time all difficulties disappear. 



The work now commenced by the Gterman Zoological Society, 

 which was described before this Society at a recent meeting, and 

 known as ' Das Tierreich,' will be familiar to all present ; and it 

 has been suggested that a brief account of the ' Index Generum et 

 Specierum Animalium ' should be put on record in the same 

 manner. 



In May 1890 a letter appeared in 'Nature' and in 'La Feuille 

 des Jeunes Naturalistes,' from the author, setting forth a scheme 

 for the compilation of such a work, and inviting suggestions for 

 improved details or other matter. Beyond friends interested at 

 the British Museum, those who offered valuable suggestions were 

 David Sharp, Alfred Newton, Sven Loven, and Victor Carus. It 

 was therefore obvious that the details were satisfactory to those 

 interested, and work was commenced on July 1st, 1890. 



Since that date recording has steadily progressed (circumstances 

 have restricted the time at disposal to an amount equivalent to three 

 years) and a total of 130,000 slips have been stored away in the 

 alphabetical order of genera. Notices of the progress of the work 

 have appeared in 'Nature,' vol. xliv. p. 207 (1891), and 'Natural 

 Science,' vol. iii. p. 379 (1893), and the manuscript has been 



