by a friend. About ten years since an Annelid of very remarkable character—Dutrochet's Land-leach (Trochetia subviridis), of which only two examples had previously been observed in England, and those under circumstances which led to the suspicion of its being an introduced species[1]—was found to be abundant in a particular locality. The finder was urged to publish the fact in 'The Zoologist,' as the most appropriate means of making it known to naturalists, but he could not be persuaded to do so, from the notion, ill-grounded as it might be, that notices therein printed generally had their origin in the personal vanity of the writers; and hence the details of this interesting discovery have never yet been fully given to the world. Many of the best field-naturalists shrink from giving their observations publicity, partly that they may not incur the shadow of a charge of personal vanity, and partly through an opinion of self-respect, which hinders them from placing their own discoveries on a level with those of men against whom such a charge could be not unfairly brought.
These remarks I venture to make now; it would be impossible for me to make them later, for they might be wrongly applied by some of my readers to communications that will have appeared in the meantime. At the outset of my editorial career, however, they may be taken not amiss.
In conclusion, I need only say that my best efforts shall be devoted to the advancement of the study which all zoologists have at heart, and, with the assistance of my contributors, I doubt not that that advancement will be real.
- ↑ See Dr. Murie in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1866, pp. 659–662.
