370 Bibliographical Notices, 



to be considered as a useful remedy in certain cases, and is also used, 

 like the Amanita of the Kamtschadales, to produce a certain amount 

 of jollification. Dr. Bennett describes a symposium of this kind in 

 the island of Tongatabu ; and from his account of the preliminary 

 operations, in which a general chewing of the Kava was performed 

 by the company before its infusion with water to make the cheering 

 beverage, it would appear to be necessary that the partakers of this 

 entertainment should possess almost as little squeamishness as the 

 inferior classes of Kamtschadales. 



We must now conclude our notice of Dr. Bennett's * Gatherings.' 

 We trust that we have said sufficient to indicate that his volume 

 contains much valuable and interesting matter. Although the style 

 in which it is written is somewhat discursive, the general perform- 

 ance of the work is satisfactory, and it may be perused with much 

 advantage both by the general reader and the scientific naturalist. 

 The illustrations consist of several plates, some of them coloured, 

 representing the more interesting of the objects referred to, and of 

 numerous woodcuts scattered through the text. 



The Honey -Bee ; its Natural History, Habits, Anatomy, and Mi- 

 croscopical Beauties. By James Samuelson, assisted by J. 

 Braxton Hicks, M.D., F.L.S. With tinted Illustrations. 12mo. 

 London, Van Voorst, 1860. 



Under the title of ■ Humble Creatures/ Mr. Samuelson appears to 

 propose bringing before the public a series of notices of the structure 

 and habits of some of the lower animals ; and the present volume is 

 the second effort he has made towards the accomplishment of this 

 design. His object, as explained by himself, is to show, from the 

 minute examination of some of those creatures which are usually 

 regarded as insignificant or even contemptible by the world at large, 

 how even these have been cared for by the Creator, how beautifully 

 their structure is adapted to all the purposes which they are intended 

 to fulfil in Nature, and how important they may be in the ceconomy 

 of the world. Towards the attainment of this laudable object he 

 made a first essay some years ago, when he published the histories 

 of " The Earthworm and the Housefly," and we are glad to see, by an 

 advertisement in his new volume, that its predecessor has met with 

 sufficient success to justify the production of a second edition. In 

 selecting the Honey-Bee for his second essay, he has perhaps, de- 

 parted a little from the precise line which he might have been ex- 

 pected to follow ; as the Bee is certainly not one of those " humble 

 creatures " which are regarded with contempt or considered unim- 

 portant by even the most superficial ; and so much has been written 

 upon this insect and its wonderful instincts, that most people would 

 be ready to admit its history to be a subject of interest. However, 

 it is probably the general interest taken in the Bee that has induced 

 our author to make it the subject of his present volume ; and, con- 

 sidering the new and remarkable facts which have lately been dis- 

 covered in the history of this insect, and which have scarcely yet 



