Bibliographical Notices, 127 



7. Pachydermata. In the elephant the average- sized corpuscles 

 appear to be gyW*^ ^^ ^'^ i'^^^ i^ diameter, which is larger than 

 any at present known in the mammalia. But to show how little re- 

 lation there is between the size of the animal and that of its blood 

 disks, the author mentions that they are smaller in the horse than 

 in the mouse ; and suggests that those who have the opportunity 

 should examine the blood of the larger Cetacea, — a hint which we 

 hope will not be lost to zoologists residing near the sea coast either 

 at home or in the colonies. In the rhinoceros the blood corpuscles 

 appear to be about ^Vo*^^ °^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ diameter, and they are of 

 much the same size in the pig and in the peccary. 



8. Ruminantia, It is in this order that the most novel and inter- 

 esting results were obtained. The blood corpuscles of the goat 

 were the smallest known to physiologists before the publication of 

 the author's observations ; but in the genus Moschus, as it appears 

 from his examination of the blood of the Napu musk deer (see Dub- 

 lin Medical Press, Nov. 183.9, and Annals of Natural History, Dec. 

 1839), the particles are singularly minute and yet very regular in 

 size and definite in form. He fixes their most common diameter at 

 TT^o 0^^ of an inch. In the Vicugna and Guanaco he shows that the 

 blood disks have a very distinct oval shape, as M. Mandl had pre- 

 viously observed in the dromedary and paco. In Reeves's Muntjac 

 and some other species of the genus Cervus, besides many of the 

 common circular disks, the author announces the existence of certain 

 oblong corpuscles of very peculiar appearance and forms, generally 

 lunated or crescentic, with acutely pointed ends, but altogether sin- 

 gularly variable in shape. 



Genera et Species Staphylinorum Insectorum Coleopterorum families. 



Auctore Guil. F. Erichson, &c. &c. Pars prior, accedunt tab. sen. 3. 



pp. 400. 8vo. Berol. 1839. 



The above is the title of an elaborate work executed by Dr. Erich- 

 son upon the obscure family of the Staphylini. We much rejoice 

 that this difficult task has fallen into such able hands, the careful ac- 

 curacy of his previous works being a sure guarantee for the successful 

 accomplishment of the present. Since the publication of the mono- 

 graphs of Gravenhorst at the commencement of this century, the 

 most extensive discussion of the family is the abridgement of Mr. 

 Kirby's incorporated by Mr. Stephens in his ' Illustrations of British 

 Entomology,' and we much regret to observe that Dr. Erichson 

 should not have sufficiently controlled national prejudices to do jus- 

 tice to his British fellow-labourers, who notwithstanding the many 

 imperfections of their work, certainly deserve more attention than 



