Books of Reference in Zoology, Chiefly Bibliographical

Sixty years have now elapsed since the late Dr. C. D. Sherborn published in Natural Science, 5, a list of reference books which might be justly described as the essential tools of the bibliographer and librarian in natural history. Over the course of the first half of the twentieth century numerous additional reference works of this kind have appeared, in some cases supplementing the earlier reference books, in others, superseding them. In publishing the following list no pretension is made to completeness; some of the references quoted in Sherborn's list have indeed been omitted where it is felt that the information they contain is duplicated in later works. In its scope the present list is restricted largely to works relating to recent zoology and no attempt is made to cover all branches of natural history as was the case in Sherborn's list. The aim of the author has been to compile a concise and briefly annotated list of books which experience has shown to be of service in assisting students to track down a paper from an incomplete or incorrect citation; also to list specialised bibliographies and some other reference works relating to the various sub-divisions of the animal kingdom, for those who have occasion to digress from their own particular field.