THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



JULY, 1880. 



Art. I. Remarks on some of the Advantages and Disadvantages of 

 Periodical Works on Ifatural History, By a Purchaser of 



Periodicjals. "X i , 



■-" ' ,«..., 



Sir, ^ 



As your Magazine opens a wide field for free discussion 

 and enquiry, and affords not only room but a iplace for almost 

 any subject connected with natural history, I may, perhaps, 

 be allowed to offer, through the medium of your pages, a few 

 remarks on some of the advantages and disadvantages attend- 

 ant on works which come out in periodical numbers, confining 

 myself, however, to such as relate to natural history. Of 

 such works there is now no lack : we have Floras and Faunas, 

 Magazines, Miscellanies, Registers, Cabinets, Monographs, 

 and Enumerations, in abundance, together with Illustrations, 

 zoological, entomological, and ornithological, besides a for- 

 midable phalanx (formidable, I mean, to the pockets of the 

 purchasers) of Transactions, the result of the joint wisdom 

 and abilities of those learned bodies, our scientific societies. 

 I do not complain of the number of these publications ; on 

 the contrary, I wish to see it increase ; for, as it is morally 

 impossible for a man of moderate private fortune to purchase 

 any thing like all of them, it is desirable that there should be 

 an ample supply, out of which to make a judicious selection. 

 Of the sort of works in question, I have been, or still am, a 

 purchaser, for my sphere, of a considerable number. I " take 

 them in," as it is called. I have, therefore, some right to 

 speak, from experience, of the advantages and disadvantages 

 of the system. In stating what I have to offer, I am actuated 

 by two motives : first, I would wish to recommend and encou- 

 rage periodicals on natural history, as being a highly useful, 

 convenient, and agreeable mode of publication ; and, secondly, 

 Vol. III. — No. 14. x 



