910 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 440. 



It seems to me that a station on one of the 



Bahama Islands, if possible in a place where 



some sheltered or lagoon water could be had, 



would be the situation most to be desiderated. 



E. W. MacBeide. 



McGiLL University. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 



THE FIRST EDITION OF HOLBEOOK'S NORTH 



AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY. 



In a ' biographical memoir of John Ed- 

 wards Holbrook,' prepared for the National 

 Academy of Sciences, and in the compilation 

 of which I took unusual care, I assumed that 

 only three volumes of the first edition of the 

 ' North American Herpetology ' had been pub- 

 lished. In the ' publisher's note ' to the 

 second edition it was, indeed, explicitly stated 

 that ' in consequence of * * * the demand for 

 the first three volumes it became necessary 

 either to reprint them or to make a new edi- 

 tion,' and thus by implication it was certified 

 that no later volume of the first edition had 

 been published. With this statement all the 

 many bibliographies and works I had con- 

 sulted agreed. 



I was not a little surprised, therefore, when 

 I received a letter from my friend, Mr. Wit- 

 mer Stone, informing me that ' the last word ' 

 has not been said on the ' Herpetology,' and 

 that there was a fourth volume of the first 

 edition in the library of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. I was led 

 thereby to review numerous bibliographies and 

 works on reptiles and amphibians to ascertain 

 whether any references had been made to a 

 fourth volume which I had previously over- 

 looked. Dumeril and . Bibron, Baird and 

 Girard, Cope, Garman, Giinther, Boulenger, 

 and Stejneger alike made no reference to such 

 a volume. The bibliographies of Agassiz and 

 Strickland, Engelmann, Carus and Engel- 

 mann, and catalogues of numerous public 

 libraries were also silent as to the existence 

 of any other than ' the first three volumes.' 

 The British Museum librarians, indeed, knew 

 only one volume ; in its great catalogue, ' Vol. 

 I., Philadelphia, 1836. 4° ' is listed, and the 

 remark made ' No more published ' ! 



In short, no recent author seems to have 

 known a fourth volume of the first edition, 

 but it occurred to me that Dekay, who was a 

 friend of Holbrook and published his part on 

 the reptiles in the same year (1842) as Hol- 

 bi;ook did his second edition, might have done 

 so. On reference to his work, I found he did. 



Dekay, in his ' Zoology of New York,' Part 

 III., listed Holbrook's work in his ' List of 

 works referred to ' by him (p. vi), as 'North 

 American Herpetology; [etc.] 4 vols. 4to. 

 Philadelphia, 1834 et seq.,' but inasmuch as 

 he referred, in the synonymies of his work, 

 to the second edition, although published in 

 the same year (1842),* this was entirely in- 

 sufficient. Occasionally, however, he did refer 

 to a volume IV. (' vol. 4 ') which evidently 

 was not that of the second edition. 



Under 'the Snapping Turtle' (p. 8), refer- 

 ence was made to ' vol. 4, p. 21, pi. 3 ; and 

 vol. 1, p. 139, pi. 23 of the 2d Ed.' 



Under ' the Geographic Tortoise,' reference 

 was made to ' Testudo id. \i. e., geographical 

 Holbrook, N. Am. Herp. Vol. 4, and Vol. 1, 

 p. 99, pi. 14 of Ed. 2da.' This was quite 

 erroneous ; Holbrook described his ' Emys 

 pseudogeographica' in the fourth volume, but 

 not Emys geographica, that species having 

 been described in the first volume under the 

 new specific name Emys megacephala. Under 

 ' the Pseudographie Tortoise,' as well as all 

 the other Chelonians, reference was only made 

 to the second edition. 



Under ' Gloluier'] sayi' (noticed as extra- 

 limital at p. 41) reference was made to ' Vol. 

 4,' which must have been of the first edition, 

 since in the second edition the species was 

 described in the third volume. 



Under ' the Ribbon Snake ' (p. 47) reference 

 was made to ' Holbrook, N. A. Herpetology, 

 Vol. 4, p. 21, pi. 4; arid Vol. 4, p. 21, pi. 4, 

 of 2d Ed.' Evidently the author had taken 

 up the fourth volume of the second edition 

 twice, for in that of the first, the ' Coluber 

 saurita ' was described on page 87 and figured 

 on plate 16. 



The ' C. dhsoletus' ' C. rhomhomaculatus ' 



* Dekay probably had proof-sheets and not com- 

 plete volumes. 



