566 Zoological Gardens. — Echinorhynchus Acus. 



Art. VI. — The Zoological Gardens. A Hand-Booh for Visitors. — 



London: Robert Tyas. 1838. 

 This is a neat little volume, containing notices of all the more 

 important animals at the Menagerie in the Regent's Park, ac- 

 companied with illustrations on wood. The cuts are not ex- 

 ecuted in a very superior manner, but are sufficiently accu- 

 rate for the use of those who visit the gardens merely as a 

 place of popular exhibition. 



The author states in his Preface, that " to the Synopsis of 

 the Society, and to the valuable work of Mr. Bennett, the sub- 

 secretary, he is especially indebted." As the work professes 

 to be a compilation, a few errors in the scientific details may 

 be readily excused ; but the blunders which the author com- 

 mits when speaking of the Society, are unpardonable. Visit- 

 ors are told that the Society's Museum is in Bruton Street, at 

 which place they can procure tickets of admission to the gar- 

 dens ; and the ground in the Regent's Park, occupied by the 

 latter, is stated to have been presented to the Society by Go- 

 vernment. Such erroneous statements in a person professing 

 to write for the instruction of others, are inexcusable, because 

 the means of procuring accurate information are so very ea- 

 sily accessible. 



SHORT COMMUNICATIONS. 



Mr. Swainson s Reply to his Reviewers. — We have received 

 a letter from Mr. Swainson, stating in reference to the remarks 

 in our last number, that he does not admit that any experienced 

 naturalist has, after adopting his quinary theory, abandoned 

 it ; and wishing to know if our pages were open to him to 

 reply to our own and our reviewer's observations. A discus- 

 sion which must necessarily be carried on by the editor, and 

 a reviewer writing anonymously, on the one side, and Mr. 

 Swainson on the other, would make the controversy such a 

 complicated business, that we have declined its renewal. — Ed. 



[We regret that although we kept the press waiting as long as we possi- 

 bly could, Dr. Drummond's article on the Echinorynchus Acus was worked 

 off before we received his proof, containing the following addition, which 

 should have appeared in page 524. — Ed.'] 



Echinorhynchus Acus. — Tail obtuse, rounded, and fre- 

 quently tipped with a brown or orange -coloured solid oper- 

 culum, composed of foreign matter, probably mucus harden- 

 ed. In the male, a transparent globular vescicle is often seen 

 protruding obliquely, as is represented in Jig. 24, e, p. 516. 

 — J. L. Drummond. — Belfast, Sept. 23rd, 1838. 



