146 
Notes and Comments. 
names ; the specific name ‘ Acuminatus ’ alone occupying five 
pages with about 250 names. Any adequate examination of 
the completeness of such an index is obviously impossible 
without doing a good deal of the work over again ; the present 
reviewer can only say that it has satisfactorily come through 
such tests as he has been able to apply. Enough has been 
said to show that, in view of the efforts now being made by 
the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and 
many other independent workers to establish the names of 
animals on a firm and lasting basis, this book is absolutely 
indispensable in any institution where investigations in System- 
atic Zoology are being carried on. To attempt any adequate 
appreciation of Mr. Sherborn’s self-sacrificing devotion to his 
chosen task would be as futile as gratuitous. He has made it 
his mission in life, and his best reward will be the knowledge 
that the fruits of his labour are being utilised for the benefit 
of science. — W.E.H. 
BIRDS AND CATTLE DISEASE. 
The following Resolution was passed at a Meeting of the 
Vertebrate Section of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, at 
Leeds, on February 18th. The foot and mouth disease was 
then at its height, and the view had been expressed in several 
quarters that the disease was introduced by migratory birds. 
* That this Meeting of the Vertebrate Section of the Yorkshire 
Naturalists’ Union thinks that it is most unlikely that the 
foot and mouth disease epidemic has been introduced into this 
country by wild birds. So far as they are aware there is no 
evidence whatever for such a view, and they recommend 
that the matter be at once referred to the Wild Birds Advisory 
Committee. Were such a theory correct, one would expect 
outbreaks of the epidemic in or slightly after September and 
October, when the winter migrants are arriving.’ A copy 
of this Resolution was forwarded to the Board of Agriculture, 
and their reply, dated March 25th, is as follows : — 
THE BOARD’S REPLY. 
‘ Your Resolution states that were such a theory correct, 
outbreaks would be expected to occur in, or shortly after, 
September and October, when the winter migrants are arriving. 
I am to point out that one of the arguments in favour of the 
theory that the infection of foot and mouth disease may 
have been introduced by birds is that outbreaks have, in fact, 
commenced in the months referred to. For example, after a 
period of comparative freedom from the disease, outbreaks 
commenced in Dorsetshire on the nth September, 1919, and 
thereafter occurred in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, the 
Isle of Wight, Lincolnshire, Lindsey, Rest even and Surrey, 
during the months of September, October and November. 
Naturalist 
