A CATALOGUE OF PAPERS CONCERNING THE DATES OF PUBLICATION OF NATURAL HISTORY BOOKS. FOURTH SUPPLEMENT

Abstract

The Society for the Bibliography of Natural History began its publishing activity in 1936 by devoting the first part of its Journal (i.e. Volume 1: 1-30; October 1936) to a list of references to sources of information on the dates of issue of natural history works. This was compiled by F. J. Griffin, C. Davies Sherborn and H. S. Marshall. The utility of the catalogue to both zoological and botanical taxonomists concerned with problems of nomenclature and of citation in precise chronological sequence led to the issue of the first supplement in Volume 2, Part 1 (pp. 1-17; 1943), by F. J. Griffin, and of the second supplement in Volume 3, Part 1 (pp. 5-12; 1953), by W. T. Stearn and A. C. Townsend. The third supplement, by G. H. Goodwin, appeared in Volume 3, Part 4 (pp. 165174; 1957). It is proposed to issue the fifth supplement in Volume 5, Part 1. The Society would be grateful for copies of papers on dates of publication, or full bibliographic references to such papers, for inclusion in future supplements. They should be sent to the Librarian, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7, and marked for J. Soc. Bibl. Nat. Hist. Bibliographical information is so widely scattered, and may occur in places so little expected, that systematic search for data relating to a particular problem can lead to much loss of time and small success; it is all too easy to overlook relevant material. Much information on botanical works is to be found in the periodicals Taxon (Utrecht) and Flora Malesiana Bulletin (Leyden) and the independent works Great Flower Books, 1700-1900 (London 1956), by S. Sitwell and W. Blunt, with a bibliography (pp. 47-85) compiled by Sabine Wilson under the direction of W. T. Stearn, who is responsible for most of the annotations, and Dates of Publications describing Musci, 1801-1821 (Troy, N.Y., U.S.A., 1959), by G. Sayre; it should be noted that many of the publications describing bryophytes that have been elucidated by Miss Sayre also describe other plants.