﻿Prodr. 803 = inonspessulanus " ; and the authorities for the species 

 are given almost throughout the index. In this it seems to me the 

 object of an index, which is not to give information but to point out 

 where it may be found, is overlooked ; and it must be remembered 

 that conciseness is a most desirable feature, so long as it does not 

 interfere with completeness. The index in question, which occupies 

 36 pages, might be reduced by at least one- third without any 

 diminution of its usefulness. 



As an example of omission, the current Annals of Botany stands 

 pre-eminent. Incredible as it may appear, there is no real index to 

 contents of the volumes, what is so-called consisting of two parts : 

 " A. Original Papers and Notes," entered under the authors' names 

 alphabetically arranged, and " B. List of Illustrations." It is thus 

 necessary to know who wrote on a subject before the subject itself 

 can be referred to ; for there is absolutely no indication whatever 

 by which it can be traced. This "index " occupies two pages, and 

 is simply a rearrangement of the list of " contents " which precedes 

 it — a list in which the contents of each number are given, and the 

 often erroneous date of publication printed on the wrapper of each 

 part is rendered permanently misleading. The bibliographical side 

 of the Annals has from the first been very weak ; but it seems 

 strange that no one of the many eminent men associated with it has 

 ever been struck with the extraordinary omission to which attention 

 is here called. Mr. Jackson in his General Index to the Linnean 

 Journal (Botany), points out that in one of the insufficiently indexed 

 volumes (vol. x.) the single word Agaricus is the only indication 

 "of an enumeration which extends to more than ten pages, with 

 twenty-four new species " ; but in the Annals Mr. J. Gr. Baker's 

 " Summary of the new Ferns which have been discovered 

 or described since 1874," extending over 117 pages, has only 

 this reference in the index, though it abounds in new species and 

 deals with between 50 and 60 genera. It would indeed seem as if 

 Special pains had been taken to make this so-called " index" use- 

 less, for such entries as " a new genus of Tubercularire " carefully 

 refrain from adding the name of the genus in question. The 

 indexes to the various Journals <,t i;< <n > issued under Sir W.J. 

 Hooker 's^ direction have become proverbial for their inadequacy, but 

 it may be doubted whether those of the Annals of Botany do not 

 surpass them in this particular. 



The Orchid Review errs in an opposite direction. It gives an 

 excellent index of species and subjects, extending over seven pages, 

 but entirely omits the names of contributors. It is often necessary 

 to look up the writings of some author, but it is not possible to 

 ascertain this from the Orchid Review, save at the cost of wading 

 through the entire volume. 



As an example of the inconvenience arising from a classified 

 index, the Hardeners' Chronicle may be cited. I have been told, we 

 will say, that in the first volume for 1893 there is a note on 

 "dimorphic Aralias." I look in the index for "Aralia" and 

 "dimorphic," and fail to find either. How am I to gu 

 snugly hidden away under the heading " Scientific Committee " 1 



