972 The American Naturalist. [ November, 
graphy, illustration and the matter itselfall come in for commendation. 
There is, however, one department of our government with which fault 
must be found in this respect—the Department of Agriculture. Here 
the fault lies in the multiplicity of serials issued. It would seem that 
in this department each head clerk considered it necessary to issue his 
own publication, and, in many cases, several series of publications. The 
result is that in the present decade there have issued from this depart- 
ment about one hundred series of documents, so that students and 
librarians have great difficulty in keeping track of them. Then, too, 
these serials are unduly padded, the truly valuable matter which occa- 
sionally appears in them being buried among a mass of valueless mate- 
rial, apparently prepared from a spirit of rivalry between the ditferent 
bureaus and divisions. 
The following list of publications is probably not complete, but it is 
published here for two reasons: first to show the senseless extent to 
which this division into series has been carried ; and, second, as an aid 
to librarians in arranging these publications and noting deficiencies. 
The Department of Agriculture issues the following publications 
which are not distributed among the separate bureaus: Circulars, Mis- 
cellaneous Circulars, Farmers’ Bulletins, Special Reports, Miscellaneous 
Special Reports, Reports of the Secretary, Year Book—a total of 
seven, 
From the separate divisions appear the following :— 
Bureau of Animal Industry: Circulars, Circulars of Information, 
Bulletins, Special Bulletins, Annual Reports. 
Division of Soils: Bulletins. : 
Division of Agricultural Soils: Bulletins. 
Division of Agrostology: Circulars, Bulletins. 
Division of Biological Survey : Circulars, Bulletins. 
Division of Botany : Bulletin (octavo), Bulletin (quarto), Circulars, 
Contributions from the U. 8. National Herbarium, Special Bulletins, 
Illustrations of North American Grasses, Report of the Botanist. 
Division of Chemistry: Bulletins, Circulars, Report. 
Division of Entomology: Circulars, Circulars (second series), Bul- 
letins, Bulletins (new series), Periodical Bulletins, Special Bulletins, 
Technical Series, Reports, Insect Life. 
Division of Forestry: Circulars (octavo), Circulars (quarto), Bul- 
letins (octavo), Bulletins (quarto), Reports upon Forestry, Report © 
the Chief of the Division of Forestry. 
Division of Garden and Grounds: Report. 
Division of Microscopy: Report, Food Products. 
