[Letters to Editor]

Abstract

FULLY agreeing with “F.Z.S.” in reprobating the evil practice of which he complains, I think that in the particular instance he cites, of the recently published third part of the new edition of “The Birds of South Africa,” he will, on looking again at its wrapper, see that the information it affords is so contradictory as to be worth nothing. The first words upon it are “To be completed in Six Parts;” but on its second page we read that the publisher “has decided upon issuing this work in four parts!” Which of these statements is to be believed? In justice to the publisher, however, it is to be observed that the number “3” is not printed, but inserted with the pen, in the copy I have received, and also that the “May, 1875,” has a line drawn through it. While on the subject let me add that the Zoological Society itself, in its “Transactions,” sets a bad example in this respect. Each paper bears a date at the foot of its first page, but the date is likely to be misleading in years to come, for it is that of the printing off the sheet—an essentially private matter, with which the public has nothing to do—and not that of the publication.