262 Uterary Notices, 



large pages of letter-press, written in Mr. Wilson's best man- 

 ner. This variety of wolf is very common on the American 

 continent north of Canada, and is found as far northwards as 

 man has been able to penetrate; varying somewhat in size, 

 according to the latitude of its localities. Tlie two following 

 plates are devoted to the male and female of Richardson's 

 grouse ( Tetrao RichardscrnzV), discovered by Mr. David Dou- 

 glas among the mountainous districts of the river Columbia, 

 and other parts of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. 

 The scarlet ibis, in the plumage of the first year, forms the 

 subject of the other plate. 



The two first plates in No. ix. are really out of place in a 

 Work like this, destined for the drawing-room, and into which 

 ladies may be presumed to look without danger. They are 

 pictures of the fore and hind feet of the great orang outang 

 of Sumatra; faithful to nature we are assured and do believe, 

 and abominably ugly. The great auk (^Ica impennis) forms 

 a good subject for plate 35, This large and rare water-bird 

 is found along the shores of Iceland and Greenland ; it occurs 

 occasionally among the Feroes, and has been once or twice 

 observed in the Orkney Islands. Two instances are recorded 

 of its being driven on the British coast. Its " true sphere of 

 action is the water, through which it swims and dives with 

 extraordinary power and rapidity ; and where its short wings, 

 entirely useless for the purposes of flight, become efficient 

 locomotive organs when used as oars or fins beneath the sur- 

 face. Its powers of swimming and diving exceed, indeed, 

 those of almost any other species of the feathered tribe. It 

 has been seen cresting the waves during the prevalence of the 

 most fearful storms, or shooting through the raging surf with 

 the rapidity of an arrow." Tlie last plate in the number we 

 do not like : it presents a very large cone, which is described 

 for the first time, and named Conus NicolhV. 



N. 



Art. V. Literary Notices, 



The Utility of the Knowledge of Nature considered; with reference to the 

 Introduction of Instruction in the Physical Sciences into the general Edu- 

 cation of Youth ; comprising, with many Additions, the Details of a Public 

 Lecture on that Subject, delivered at Hazel wood School, near Birmingham, 

 on the 2Gth of October, 1830. By E. W. Brayley, Jun. A.L.S., Lecturer 

 on Natural Philosophy and Natural History, and Teacher of the Physical 

 Sciences in Hazelwood School. This excellent pamphlet is just published. 



A Grammar of Natural History^ for the Use of Young Persons, is in 

 preparation, and will appear, illustrated with numerous cuts, in the course 

 of the season. 



