Bibliographical Notices. 369 



of Cassowary was rendered to the science of Zoology by Dr. Bennett 

 at a very early period of his residence in Australasia. u On the 24th 

 of August, 1829," he says, " when walking on the deck of the ship (at 

 Erromanga) on a calm evening, I observed an object floating upon 

 the water, resembling a dead tortoiseshell cat. So unexpected a sight 

 excited my curiosity ; and the boat, which was alongside the ship at 

 the time, was immediately manned, and sent to ascertain the nature 

 of the floating object. It was found to be the Pearly Nautilus." 

 And thus Dr. Bennett was the first naturalist, since the time of 

 Rumphius, who had the good fortune to behold a living specimen of 

 this remarkable creature, almost the sole living representative of that 

 great group of chambered Cephalopods whose remains are to be met 

 with in some of the oldest of geological formations. Who cannot 

 enter into the feelings of our author, when the supposed tortoiseshell 

 cat turned out such a prize ? or sympathize with his friend, referred 

 to on page 383, who, on inquiring of a native of the Fiji Islands 

 whether he was acquainted with the Nautilus, was coolly informed 

 by him that " he had just eaten one " ? It appears, indeed, that all 

 the time that our zoologists have been longing for the opportunity of 

 examining the animal of the Pearly Nautilus, these " ignorant brutes" 

 of islanders have been in the constant habit of capturing and devour- 

 ing them ; and a lady friend of Dr. Bennett's informed him that she 

 was acquainted with a person who was wrecked upon an island near 

 New Caledonia, where he was frequently regaled with curried Nautili, 

 which he most unpoetically compared with Whelks. 



We have devoted so much space to the consideration of the zoo- 

 logical contents of Dr. Bennett's volume that we have but little to 

 spare for that of the interesting botanical information which it con- 

 tains. In his fifteenth chapter he describes the curious Australian 

 Baobab-tree (Adansonia Gregorii), the enormous gouty stems and 

 comparatively small branches of which give it a most singular aspect. 

 The sixteenth chapter is devoted to the cultivation of the Orange- 

 tree in Australia — a branch of industry which has already made much 

 progress, and which, from the peculiar suitability of the climate, is 

 probably destined to become of great importance to the colony of 

 New South Wales. It appears that it is amongst the orange-groves 

 that the singular Cicada, Cystosoma Saundersii, is to be met with, 

 and that so constantly that it is known in the colony as the Orange- 

 locust. We find also descriptions of the numerous species of Aca- 

 cias, Gum-trees, Casuarinas, Araucarias, and Apple-trees {Angophorce) y 

 and of the several Dammara Pines which have lately been discovered 

 both in Australia and the islands of the Pacific, — interspersed with 

 interesting accounts of the districts in which these various trees grow, 

 and the uses to which they are applied both by natives and settlers. 

 The last two chapters previous to that in which Dr. Bennett describes 

 his homeward voyage, are devoted to the consideration of the vege- 

 table productions of New Zealand and Polynesia, with especial refe- 

 rence to those plants which are considered by the natives to possess 

 medicinal properties. Amongst these we have an interesting account 

 of the Kava {Piper methysticum), which appears to have some claim 



