496 Mudie' s British Naturalist. 



nor yet, again, for having repeated the absurd compliment he 

 had thought well to pass upon the beauty of certain " daugh- 

 ters of the principality," while expatiating on the extraordi- 

 nary virtues attributed to the waters of Bala Lake (p. 100.) ; 

 which, however, in our judgment, is the most nauseous trash. 

 But let this pass. What we do complain of (and, in the pre- 

 sent case, think we have a right to complain of) is, that the 

 positive errors and mistatements which we pointed out have 

 not been corrected. There is in this second issue from the 

 press all the same confusion about the different species of 

 Faccinium (p. 55.) ; the same misstatement, that "the nest of 

 the swift is constructed much in the same manner as that of 

 the common swallow " (p. 359.) ; that moths are "always 

 indolent " (p. 360.) ; that the gizzard of the corncrake resem- 

 bles that of poultry (ii. p. 373.) ; that this bird "is in general 

 gone before it can do any injury to the crops" (ii. p. 374-.), 

 &c. In one instance, Mr. Mudie does alter a passage with 

 which we found fault. We remarked upon the cynfusion of 

 thought under which he seemed to labour on the subject of 

 "variety" and "species," when he told us that "of the dragon 

 fly (Libellula) there are several varieties" (i. p. 197., 1st ed.) : 

 he now flounders deeper in the mire, and gravely informs us, 

 that " of the dragon fly there are a great number of specimens" 

 (i. p. 196., 2d ed.); and this, too, after we had actually put 

 the right word into his mouth ! Is it possible that Mr. Mudie 

 should not know the difference between "specimen" and 

 " species " ? 



We adverted above to the typographical errors with which 

 this work abounds. Of these let one example suffice. Who 

 would have supposed that such a sentence as the following 

 could have escaped correction, and found its way a second 

 time into print? " The sa;nd martin (Hirundo riparia) is the 

 species most frequently met "with in such localities, as it nestles 

 in holes of the steep banks, generally in colonies at one place, 

 whichsoever the stream hath upwards and downwards" (ii. 

 p. 381., 2d ed.) It would puzzle GEdipus himself to make 

 any thing like sense of the latter part of this passage. We 

 will, therefore, for the benefit of the readers of the British 

 Naturalist, inform them, on Mr. Mudie's own authority (for 

 no one else could have explained the enigma), how this pas- 

 sage ought to have stood ; viz. : — " The sand martin is the 



species, &c as it nestles in holes of the steep banks, 



generally in colonies at one place, whisking over the stream 

 both upwards and downwards" 



Of the woodcuts which adorned the first edition we, on a 

 former occasion, could say little in praise. Mr. Mudie, in the 

 letter already alluded to, promised that in the new edition the 



