This subseries consists of 11 volumes, correspondence files, and a box of notecards dated from 1921-1956 relating to Wood's publication “An Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology” published in 1931 and collection development within the Emma Shearer Wood and Blacker Libraries at McGill University. The volumes and files contain correspondence, handwritten and typed annotated manuscripts, proof sheets, the publication, notecards listing recipients of the publication, prints, printed ephemera, clippings, financial and administrative records, book reviews, and McGill Library catalogue listings related to the works within “An Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology.” Additional professional projects are also represented in the subseries including “Coloured Plates of the Birds of Ceylon,” the Passing of John III, and Wood’s translation of Benevenutus Grassus’ de Oculis.
There are 1313 incoming and outgoing correspondence letters, telegrams, and cards; the largest volume in the collection. The correspondents are located internationally and include public, academic, government, and army libraries; museums, clubs and societies, literary journals, publishers, etc.. Some individuals and companies addressed include Lillian Bates, William Henry Mousley, Gerhard R. Lomer, W. W. Francis, Robert de Resillac Roese, S. R. Burrell, Robert Blacker, Miss Hanington, Elizabeth E. Abbott, John and Edward Bumpus Ltd., Oxford University Press, Sun Engraving Co., Parker & Sons Ltd., Herbert Putnam, George Iles, Colonel F. H. Garrison, Dr. Melville Black, W. J. Belcher, Smithsonian Institute, Dr. Maude Abbott, Dr. A. D. Blackader, R. R. James, Pierpont Morgan Library, Humphrey Milford, Basil H. Soulsby, William F. Petersen, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Natural History Museum, Dr. Robert A. Millikan, Douglas H. Campbell, A. J. Swann, Sir Arthur W. Currie, Alexander Wetmore, E. Cowles Andrus, and John Johnson.

Collection consists of 57 illustrations of birds, eggs, snakes, and plants by James Forbes chiefly to illustrate his work "Oriental Memoirs," published in four volumes between 1813 and 1815. The majority of the illustrations are either engraved or hand-drawn and then coloured, and have been cut out and mounted on paper. In many cases, a background has been drawn in and coloured or partially coloured. Approximately thirty of the images depict tropical birds, many from the Indian subcontinent, as well as some from Brazil and Australia. A number of these drawings also feature insects, particularly butterflies, and trees and flowers. Fifteen drawings depict bird eggs, including many of forest birds. The images generally contain captions by Forbes or a contemporary, identifying the subject of the drawing. Some birds are unidentified. Numerous drawings also contain species identifications or annotations in pencil by Henry Mousely, librarian of the Blacker Wood Library at McGill University during the 1920s and 1930s. These drawings are tentatively dated to approximately 1811. A note on one drawing indicates that it was originally based on drawings created during Forbes's voyages during the 1780s, then recopied in 1811. Items 44 through 57 depict snakes and reptiles and are tentatively dated to between approximately 1811 and 1818, based on a small number of drawings which are signed and dated. Many of these drawings of snakes and reptiles feature as plates in Patrick Russell's "A Continuation of an Account of Indian Serpents: Containing Descriptions and Figures, from Specimens and Drawings" (1801).