It is from a full conviction that such productions as the one before us lessen and degrade a favourite pursuit in the eyes of all rational men, and make it a laughing-stock to the satirical, that we feel called upon to protest upon their being received as evidence touching the nature of our studies. So we willingly consign this one to our highest shelf, where it shall remain to gather the dust that already covers, with a thick and undisturbed repose, the very similar volumes of Mr Brookes and Captain Brown, and the "exquisite Conchologist's Companion" of Miss Mary Roberts, who, however, sometimes enlivens her pages with a sort of quixotical sentimentalism and a blundering absurdity that provokes a smile ;-and thus only doth she surpass her competitors.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.

Fauna Japonica. Auctore PH. FR. DE SIEBOLD.-Ophidii elaborantibus C. J. TEMMINCK et H. SCHLEGEL. Fol. Lugduni Batav.

THE Erpetologie of Japan has hitherto been sparingly illustrated. The present number of this interesting work, commencing the Ophidii, is therefore an important addition to our knowledge of the natural history of the Japanese empire. Former naturalists have borne testimony that that department of the Fauna was very circumscribed," and the present researches, in the words of Temminck and Schlegel, have produced" collections à la verité riches en individus, mais ou les espèces sont toujours bornées à un nombre tres-limité." The species here described are only ten in number: 3 species of Coluber, 2 of Tropidonatus, 1 Trigonocephalus, and 4 Hydrophis. The plates are lithographic and nicely executed, but uncoloured; hence all the generic characters, and the expression of the scaling are distinctly seen, while we have to regret the want of those vivid tints which generally adorn the exterior of these creatures.

A part of the introductory portion of the whole work is also given, which we shall notice more in detail at an early period.

A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the adjacent Islands. By JOHN GOULD, F. L. S. Part II. Royal 8vo. 1837.

The second number of this peculiarly managed work has just been forwarded to us. It equals its predecessor in the beauty of its finishing, and we have illustrations of the characters of forty species, comprised in the genera Monarcha, Amadina, Pardalotus, Platycercus, Nanodes, Meliphaga, Acanthorhynchus, (a genus formed from the

Meliphaga tenuriostris of Vig. and Horsf.;) Coturnix, Hemipodius, Egialitis, (a name proposed by Vieillot for a family among the Grallatores, here used as a generic title for the form of Charadrius represented by the little ring-dotterel Ch. hiaticula ;) Himantopus, of which the species described, H. palmatus, Gould, is extremely interesting, as exhibiting a complete palmation or web between the toes, and thus running into the avosets, Recurvirostra, Oxyura, and Sterna.

Catalogue of the Cellulares or Flowerless Plants of Great Britain, or those included in the Linnæan class Cryptogamia; compiled from Sir W. J. Hooker's English Flora, Vol. V.; Sir J. E. Smith's English Flora, Vol. IV.; Mackay's Flora Hibernica; Henslow's Catalogue of British Plants, and other sources. By W. A. LEIGHTON, B. A., F. B. S. Ed. 8vo. London, Longman, 1837.

This sheet, as indicated by the title, is a mere catalogue, which has been deemed necessary on account of " the increased and increasing study of the Cryptogamic tribes." It is intended to facilitate the interchange of species, to afford a convenient index for the herbarium, and, if interleaved, to serve as a book for memoranda, regarding some of the rarer species. For the above purposes this catalogue cannot fail to be useful, and, being printed on a single large sheet, it can be transmitted by mail at the charge of a single postage, and afterwards cut and folded, as its possessor may find most convenient. The price of the sheet is sixpence.

A History of British Birds, Indigenous and Migratory, including their organization, habits, and relations, remarks on Classification and Nomenclature; an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to practical Ornithology. Illustrated by numerous engravings. By WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY. Vol. I. 8vo. London, 1837.

The work bearing the above title is a thick octavo volume of 631 pages, having for its object " to lay before the public, descriptions of the birds of Great Britain, more extended and, if possible, more correct than any previously offered." * We do not wish to appear unnecessarily critical regarding the manner in which Mr Macgillivray has accomplished this object, but we should not act fairly to our subscribers were we to say that it is done successfully. The writing appears to us an affected attempt to imitate the styles of Isaac Walton and of Audubon, which, being extremely peculiar, can only be relished

Preface.

in the originals,-and here, as in the case of similar imitations, we desiderate their freshness, and dislike the misplaced quaintness of expression. It appears trifling, while the meaning is by no means distinctly conveyed. The incidental remarks and digressions liberally dispersed through the volume, (often totally irrelevant to the subject, see p. 125,) are sometimes expressed scarcely with a kindly feeling, and seem to show an inclination to undervalue the opinions of others when a unison of ideas cannot be found.

This book is composed of two parts: The first, introductory; the second commences the history of the birds themselves belonging to four of the orders, which our author has thought necessary to form on principles of his own, and which are " doubtless excellent and admirable in the eyes of their inventor."

The introductory portion contains, first," remarks on classification and nomenclature," and "samples" of systems are given in outlines of those of Linnæus and Vieillot. Next follows an exposition of our author's own system. This is "primarily divided into four groups, sections, or sub-classes, determined by their mode of life," and they come in the place of the familiar divisions of "land and water birds." They are, I. Aërial birds, Aves Aëriæ or Volitoriæ; II. Terrestrial, Aves Terrestres or Ambulatoriæ; III. Amphibious or wading, Aves Littorales or Grallatoriæ; IV. Aquatic birds, or Natatoriæ. These again are separated into no fewer than Nineteen Orders, each section containing four, except the second, in which seven have been placed. We cannot consider this system more simple or comprehensive than many of its predecessors, and we do not think the nomenclature improved by the introduction of sectional or generic titles, such as, Volitatores, Deglubitores, Raptatores, Palpatores, &c. or in another language, of Plunderers, Cooers, Huskers, Gropers, Probers, &c. &c. ; but " methods spring up and die like mushrooms, and for the same reason; they are composed of flimsy and unsubstantial materials easily elaborated."+

Of the concluding part of the introduction, "Remarks on the structure of birds," we have a higher opinion. It is a subject interesting from the little attention which has hitherto been given to it, particularly in this country, and from the great importance which the knowledge of structure is in our generalizations upon the functions of the different parts, and the economy and habits of the individuals. This part, though short, is well done. The anatomy is con† Ibid, p. 16.

• Introduction, p. 15.

Ibid, p. 19.

cisely detailed, without any of the affectedness of style which we dislike so much elsewhere, and it is illustrated by nine engravings well wrought from the pencil of the author, exhibiting views of the osteology, the muscular arrangement, and the digestive organs in the principal divisions.

The second part of the book, occupying 500 pages, is devoted to the history of four of the orders "Rasores, Scrapers. Gemitores, Cooers. Deglubibitores, Huskers. Vagatores, Wanderers." This description or historical part wants condensation; it is much too lengthened, without bringing together the information which is really of use to the student of British ornithology. It is illustrated by woodcuts of most of the parts which are essential in the system, as generic, many of which are well drawn and executed. We are treated also with "Practical Ornithology," in chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4, but these lessons we dislike in toto, both in substance and in spirit.

Report by MM. De Blainville, Isidore Geoffroy, and Dumeril, on M. Percheron's work entitled Bibliographie Entomologique. Those who particularly devote themselves to the study of one branch of natural history, have a great interest in becoming acquainted with the works already published on the special object of research or observation with which they are occupied. Accordingly the greater part of authors make it a rule to indicate in general works the sources whence they have derived their information, and are careful at the same time to arrange their citations in chronological order.

M. Percheron, who has long been assiduously engaged in the study of insects, on some genera of which he has already published some very good monographs, such as those on Cetonia and Passalus, has strongly felt the necessity of arranging the works from which he obtained useful intelligence, in a series according to their dates. He had accordingly drawn up at first for his own use, a catalogue of all the entomological books whose titles he had become acquainted with, and undertook laborious researches to ascertain as many as possible : this he conceived it would be of advantage to the science, and to those who cultivate it, to publish for general use. He has made it his object to inscribe all the writings relating to insects, considered under the different relations of form, structure, classification, manner, habits, utility, injuries, &c. in a word, all the works on entomology.

Such is the work which M. Percheron is about to publish, and of which all the sheets hitherto printed have been examined by the above-named commissioners. It is a simple catalogue, in alphabetical order, of the names of authors, with the indication of the complete

title of their works, the date of their publication, and, where that was practicable, a notice of the period and the place of the birth and death of these naturalists. Unfortunately these simple indications contain no abridged notice of the contents of these works, and are unaccompanied with critical observations, yet such additions are of great interest on account of the judgments which they embrace.

After this first part of the work, which forms nearly three-fourths or a volume and a half, the author has drawn up a table of the articles in the order of the subjects and chronology; this is divided into chapters. The first comprehends the names of the authors who have written on insects, but under certain points of view only, such as the damages they may occasion, which our author names their nocibility; then in relation to their utility in agriculture, in the arts, in medicine, or in the general economy of nature, regarded in a philosophical manner. The second chapter indicates the books which treat of insects in regard to their general natural history, zoological or entomological. It is here that we find inserted travellers, museographers, micrographers. The third and last chapter makes us acquainted with the works which have treated of insects exclusively, such as memoirs relating to the formation and preservation of entomological museums; the generalities of their modes of life and metamorphoses; special works on the anatomy, physiology, and classification of insects; such as contain only observations on their different countries; and finally, all the works which have treated of the orders in particular, whether relating to all the genera, or those of some particular country, or such productions as have appeared under the title of monographs. Such is the order in which the name of every author is here inserted and repeated according to the date of publication.

We cannot disguise the fact, that the execution of this Bibliographie still leaves something to be desired, for we have remarked in it several important omissions, and we find books and memoirs inserted which have no relation to insects. However, the work may be of great benefit to entomologists: it will no doubt greatly facilitate their researches, and really promote the ulterior progress of the study of that branch of natural history.*

Comptes rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences, 6th February 1837.