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Preface by Sidney F. Harmer

At the Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held at Dundee in 1912 the Committee which had for twenty years watched and assisted the progress of Mr C. Davies Sherborn's bibliographical labours presented their final Report, stating that the Trustees of the British Museum had consented to assume responsibilities in connexion with this work. The production of a second section of the "Index Animalium" as an official publication of the Museum is the logical consequence of the Trustees' decision.

The first instalment, now issued, includes the Bibliography, and the commencement of the actual Index, for the period 1801-1850, which is to constitute the main part of the work.

The Introduction contains acknowledgments of assistance rendered to the author during the progress of his investigations. It is necessary for me to add a few words to express the indebtedness of the Trustees to Mr Sherborn himself, who has devoted the best years of his life to this labour of love, so well calculated to lighten the burdens of Zoologists in the future. During the many years in which Mr Sherborn has worked in the Museum his colleagues and others have made constant use of the manuscript slips which are now reproduced, and they have repeatedly been indebted to him for assistance. It is hoped that his unremitting efforts to smooth the path of his successors will be appreciated as they deserve by a larger public.

SIDNEY F. HARMER,
Director.

British Museum (Natural History),
October 1921.