PREFACE. 
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fTIHE fortieth Volume of the Zoological Record has been 
prepared by the same staff of Recorders that produced 
the last Volume. The constantly increasing labour of prepara- 
tion, due to the greater amount of literature that must be 
examined, causes the appearance of the Volume to be deferred 
to a little later in the year than the Editor would desire. 
The list of periodicals has been revised and the Editor 
thanks the Librarians who have assisted him in this part of 
his task. 
During the forty years that have elapsed since the inception 
of the Record the Annual Volume has almost doubled in size, 
and the labour involved in its preparation has greatly increased. 
The increase has been most marked in the latter part of the 
period. The literature dealt with is now very extensive and 
is constantly increasing. The price of the work has however 
never been augmented. 
In future, however, an increase in the charge for the 
volumes must take place, lest the loss in which the publication 
involves the Zoological Society should lead to the abandon- 
ment of the work. It has been decided, therefore, beginning 
with Volume 41, to increase the charge by ten shillings to 
both subscribers and the public. Full particulars are given 
