Memorandum for Authors of Papers for “Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.”

In order to facilitate the printing of the annual volume, and thus save both time and money, particular attention is requested to be paid to the following details:—

1. All papers must be typewritten, unless special permission to send in written papers has been granted by the Editor.

2. The author should read over the typewritten copy, and, if necessary, correct it, before sending it to the Secretary of the Society before which it was read.

3. A badly arranged or carelessly composed paper must be sent back to the author for amendment by the Council of the Society before which it was read. It is not the duty of an editor to amend either bad arrangement or defective composition.

4. In regard to underlining of words, it is advisable, as a rule, to underline only specific, generic, for family names, or foreign words.

5. In regard to specific names, the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature in relation to zoological names, and the International Rules for Botanical Nomenclature must be adhered to.

6. Titles of papers should give a clear indication of the scope of the paper, and such indefinite titles as, e.g., “Additions to the New Zealand Fauna” should be avoided.

7. Papers should be as concise as possible, all unessential details being omitted.

8. Photographs intended for reproduction should be the best procurable prints, unmounted and sent flat.

9. Line Drawings.—Drawings and diagrams may be executed in line or wash. If drawn in line—i.e., with pen and ink—the best results are to be obtained only from good, firm, black lines, using such an ink as Higgin's liquid India ink, or a freshly mixed Chinese ink of good quality, drawn on a smooth surface, such as Bristol or London board. Thin, scratchy, or faint lines must be avoided, as leading to disappointment in the reproduction. Bold work, drawn to about twice the size (linear) of the plate, will give the best results. Tints or washes may not be used on line drawings, the object being to get the greatest contrast from a densely black line (which may be fine if required), drawn on a smooth, white surface.

10. Wash Drawings.—If drawing in wash is preferred, the washes should be made in such water-colour as lamp-black, ivory black, or India ink. These reproduce better than neutral tint, which inclines too much to blue in its light tones. High lights are better left free from colour, although they may be stopped out with Chinese white. As in line drawings, a fine surface should be used (the grain of most drawing-papers reproduces in the print with bad effect), and well-modelled contrasted work will give satisfactory results.

11. Size of Drawings.—The printed plate will not exceed 7 ¼in. by 4 ½in., and drawings may be to this size, or preferably a multiple thereof, maintaining the same proportion of height to width of plate. When a number of drawings are to appear on one plate they should be neatly arranged, and if numbered or lettered in soft pencil the printer will mark them permanently before reproduction. In plates of wash drawings, all the subjects comprising one plate should be grouped on the same sheet of paper or cardboard, as any joining-up shows in the print.