140 Bibliographical Notice. 



small indeed. Books of all qualities and all prices, — from the beautiful 

 but rather costly volumes of Gosse down to the little work in which 

 the " Common Objects of the Sea-shore" are reduced to the level of 

 the lowest capacity at the correspondingly low price of one shilling, — 

 books, good, bad, and indifferent, meet one's eye at every turn ; and 

 if all visitors to the sea-side do not acquire some knowledge of marine 

 zoology, it certainly is not the fault of our natural-history writers. 

 In fact, we are almost surfeited with works published with this ob- 

 ject. Mr. Thackeray, when enjoying the hospitality of the amiable 

 Ponto family, found that there was a sameness about a continued 

 pork diet, and considered their beginning upon a sheep an incident 

 worthy of record ; and when we look back upon the numerous books 

 that have appeared since 1850 on the Aquarium and kindred sub- 

 jects, we are quite ready to sympathize with the illustrious snob- 

 ographer. 



Surely in this, if in any similar case, we might entertain a reason- 

 able dread of the production of the effect proverbially attributed to 

 the cooperation of too many cooks. Nevertheless there was one of 

 the chefs of the natural-history cuisine, if we may be allowed to 

 make use of such a term, a very Soyer in his line, who had not yet 

 contributed any production of his art to the entertainment, — one 

 whose scientific attainments and literary power render his popular 

 writings the most attractive of any that have appeared in our lan- 

 guage. His long-promised work on the Aquarium has at length made 

 its appearance ; and although it comes, let us hope, in the very last 

 course of the aquarian banquet, it is so savoury in its nature, so deli- 

 cately seasoned, and so admirably concocted, that, surfeited as we 

 were already, we fall-to upon it with renewed relish, and devour its 

 charming pages with avidity. 



Indeed, considering the inspiration under which it was written, it 

 would be astonishing were Professor Rymer Jones's book otherwise 

 than charming ; he tells us in his preface, that in its composition he 

 has endeavoured to comply, as far as possible, with the requisi- 

 tions of his lady-friends, to whose very efficient protection he seems 

 to confide it ; sparkling eyes and fairy fingers appear to have been 

 his constant assistants in his investigations of the wonders of the 

 shore ; and in his treatment of the subject we trace much of the 

 brilliancy of the eyes and much of the delicacy of the fingers. 



But independently of all charms of style, and of the accessories, 

 such as descriptions of scenery and anecdotes, scattered here and 

 there in its pages, the ' Aquarian Naturalist' is undoubtedly the best 

 of all the sea-side books which have come under our notice. Com- 

 mencing, as in duty bound, with directions to the intending " aqua- 

 riist" upon the establishment and management of his vivaria, — 

 directions which, although occupying only twenty-six pages of the 

 work, contain all the necessary information, — Professor Rymer 

 Jones proceeds to the consideration of the various forms of marine 

 animals, with especial reference to those which may be conveniently 

 introduced into the aquarium. Starting from the lowest animals, 



