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SCIENCK 



[N. S. Vol. YIII. No. 201- 



Five correspondents do not see the use of 

 this, thinking that the date on the wrapper 

 is enough, and that in the case of annual 

 publications the date of the year suffices. 

 The Committee would point out that wrap- 

 pers are constantly lost in binding, and 

 that periodicals are often broken up by 

 specialists or second-hand booksellers, the 

 consequent loss of date causing much trouble 

 to workers of a later day. To avoid this, 

 the Cincinnati Society of N'atural History 

 would add the date at the head of each 

 paper, while Natural Science prints the month 

 and year across every page- opening. Some 

 societies, e. g., the Philadelphia Academy, 

 issue a certificate of dates at the end of the 

 volume. The Liverpool Biological Society 

 ' put at the head of each paper the date 

 when it is read, and are willing to add the 

 date when it is printed off ;' neither of these 

 dates are necessary, and they may be mis- 

 leading. In most cases the actual day of 

 publication is immaterial, especially in cases 

 where no new species are described, but at 

 least the month should always be given, 

 and the Committee does not see that there 

 need be any diflBculty in doing this, If 

 some unforseen delay does occur, the date 

 can always be rectified with a date-stamp. 



(2) " That authors' separate copies should 

 be issued with the original pagination and 

 plate-numbers clearly indicated on each 

 page and plate, and with a reference to the 

 original place of publication. " 



The Committee believes this to be a most 

 important recommendation, and its view is 

 supported by all the zoologists consulted. 

 Nevertheless, many leading publications 

 continue to issue authors' copies repaged, 

 and often without reference to volume- 

 number, date, or even the name of the 

 periodical. The remedy is so simple that 

 the Committee urgently appeals for its uni- 

 versal application. 



(3) " That authors' separate copies should 

 not be distributed privately before the paper 



has been published in the regular man- 

 ner." 



It is a curious fact that on this question 

 editors take a different line to working 

 zoologists. All the latter who have dis- 

 cussed the matter agree with the Committee 

 as to the extreme inconvenience caused by 

 the general custom. Among the editors, 

 however, nine (i. e., nearly one- quarter) 

 protest against the present recommenda- 

 tion. The objectors represent small so- 

 cieties which publish at lengthy intervals, 

 and their reasons are : that it is not fair to 

 an author to prevent him from receiving 

 his separate copies for perhaps a year; that 

 it is not to the advantage of science that 

 work should thus be delayed ; that a society 

 which did this would receive fewer contri- 

 butions and lose its members. In brief, 

 the argument is : " We are too poor to 

 publish properly ; therefore, we must allow 

 authors to publish improperly." This form 

 of argument suggests an easy remedy, and 

 one that, on the informal suggestion of the 

 Committee, has already been put into prac- 

 tice by the Liverpool Biological Society and 

 by the R. Physical Society of Edinburgh. 

 The remedy is this: 



In cases where a volume or part can only 

 appear at long intervals each author that 

 requires separate copies of his paper for 

 private distribution before its publication in 

 the volume or part should be permitted 

 them only on this condition — that, for every 

 month before the probable issue of the 

 volume, a certain number of copies — say 

 five — should be placed by him in the hands 

 of the society or its accredited publisher, in 

 order that they may be offered for sale to 

 the public at a fixed price. Further, that 

 the society, for its part, should announce 

 the publication, with price and agent, of 

 their papers to some recognized office, or to 

 some such paper as the Zoologiseher Anzeiger. 

 The details of expense must be settled be- 

 tween the author and the society. 



