268 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



THE INTERNATIONAL 

 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL BUREAU. 



DY an unanimous vote of the third International 

 Congress of Zoology, held at Leyden, there 

 has been established in Zurich - Oberstrass, 

 Switzerland, an International Bibliographical 

 Bureau. This office is under the control of an 

 international commission nominated by the 

 congress. It is composed of the following members, 

 representing the countries appended to their 

 names: — Professor J. W. Spengel, Germany; 

 Professor J. Sidney Hickson, Britain ; Professor 

 W. B. Scott, United States of America ; Professor 

 Raphael Blanchard, France ; Dr. P. P. C. Hoeck, 

 Holland ; Professor W. Schimkewitsch, Russia ; 

 and Professor A. Lang, Switzerland. The Bureau 

 is under the direction of Dr. Herbert Haviland 

 Field, the full address being Universitats-Str. 

 8, Zurich-Oberstrass, Switzerland, and commences 

 work on January ist. It appears that this institu- 

 tion when proposed, met with some opposition in 

 this country, but the British Association, through 

 its Zoological Section, at the meeting held at 

 Ipswich, appointed a committee to consider the 

 matter ; but this is as far as public acknowledgment 

 seems to have gone. We have received an appeal 

 from Dr. Field to urge private individuals in 

 Britain to support the Bureau until a national 

 committee is formed to serve the interests of the 

 new institution. 



The preliminary cost of organization of the 

 Bureau, we are told, has been assumed by Dr. 

 Field, and the funds necessary to pay the current 

 expenses have been contributed by various "govern- 

 ment boards," by learned societies, and some 

 private zoologists. The results to be published 

 by the Bureau will be issued by subscription, or 

 by sale, and we are informed that this is not in 

 any sense a commercial enterprise. The publica- 

 tion of the Office will consist of an index and 

 Prompt Card Catalogue to all zoological literature, 

 whether in the form of books, serials or scattered 

 papers. This is to be broken up into sections, 

 which parts of the whole index will be sold at 

 smaller prices. For instance, the whole Inverte- 

 brata is marked as £2 8s. per annum, but Mollusca, 

 Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Pisces separately, are to 

 be twelve shillings, while less worked groups, such 

 as Myriapoda or Neuroptera, will cost only four 

 shillings each j-early. Annual subscribers are to 

 have a reduction on these prices. The book 

 edition may be ordered through a bookseller of 

 the publisher, Wilh. Engelmann, of Leipzig, but 

 the Card Catalogue can only be obtained from the 

 Bureau. The size of the cards is to be that of the 

 Library Bureau Standard (125 x 75 mm =5x3 

 inches). 



In regard to the card catalogue, the Bureau 



offers to seek through the thousand or more 

 journals containing zoological notes, to pick out 

 such articles as relate to a particular group or 

 question, and to inform its subscribers at once 

 whenever any new observation appears. This 

 will relieve them of much tedious work, and the 

 information is likely to be completer than unaided 

 effort could make it. If this is well done, we make 

 sure many workers will appreciate the value of the 

 catalogue as an aid to the progress of zoological 

 science, and that its disinterested nature will 

 commend it for support. An active propaganda is 

 needed in order that librarians may know of the 

 new enterprise and of its importance to working 

 zoologists. 



The Bureau, of course, needs works to record, 

 and, if possible, reprints annotated by the authors 

 themselves. Every publishing body will naturally 

 be ready to send their publications for the sake of 

 having them brought promptly to the knowledge 

 of those interested ; but for societies and others to 

 do this the matter must be properly brought to 

 their notice. It is so easy for those living in a 

 given locality to do this, and so difficult for Dr. 

 Field to act at a distance. 



Frederic Kitton. — We have received a Memoir 

 of the late Frederic Kitton, with portrait and 

 bibliography, by his son, Mr. F. G. Kitton, of 

 Pre Mill House, St. Albans. To microscopists 

 this little work will be of especial interest, not only 

 on account of its subject, who was considered an 

 authority on diatoms, but also for several pages of 

 remarks upon diatoms. The bibliography contains 

 eleven pages of references to the printed works and 

 papers by his father, no less than 13S of which 

 appeared in Science-Gossip, ranging from the 

 first volume in 1865 onward. Although not all 

 these papers refer to diatoms, the list indirectly 

 forms a fairly good index to the literature on the 

 subject. The price is one shilling and sixpence. 



Hydra fusca in Captivity. — I remember, some 

 years ago, an instance in London of the hardiness 

 of Hydra fusca in captivity. There was, at the Royal 

 Aquarium, a long tank, about eight}- feet in length 

 by fifteen feet wide and six feet deep, filled with 

 fresh water from the street mains. Suddenly the 

 glass fronts, which occupied four-fifths of one side 

 of this tank, became sprinkled over inside with 

 specimens, some being exceptionally large, of Hydra 

 fusca, which multiplied in an extraordinary manner 

 until it became necessary to clean the glasses so as 

 to avoid a misty appearance, caused by them 

 obstructing the view, so close together were they. 

 They extended in the same manner over the bottom 

 and rock-work of rest of this tank. Just as described 

 by Major- General Verrand, on page 276 in this 

 number, they all suddenly disappeared in autumn. 

 — John T. Carriiigton. 



