Retrospective Criticism. 195 



very great a diversity of names by no means easy of recollection. Will he 

 not rather select that of Linnaeus, so simple, and yet so consistent with the 

 character of the birds ? It were useless to enumerate more. I might go 

 over three fourths o^ the birds in our fauna, and find them all, according 

 to Mr. Rennie's book, changed, and, in my humble opinion, not certainly 

 for the better. Many of those which Mr, Rennie has thought proper to 

 alter have met with the approbation of several eminent naturalists, and 

 among them of none more capable of judging of their propriety than Mr. 

 Selby, who has made the department of ornithology his almost exclusive 

 study, and, by his accurate investigation, has contributed so much to eluci- 

 date that branch of natural science. Surely, the simpler a system is, the 

 more likely it is to find advocates, and the more extended will be its circu- 

 lation. It is not by the infinite subdivision of classes, and multiplication, 

 of genera, that the study of natural history is to be advanced ; the less we 

 encumber our system with divisions, unless with such as are absolutely 

 necessary, the more easily will it be recollected by the studejnt, and the 

 more leisure will he enjoy for studying the manners and habits of those 

 animals to which he may have directed his attention ; and which he should 

 make his principal aim, in studying any branch of zoology. 



But I do not wish to take up the pen of a critic. My object has been, 

 not to furnish you with a review of Mr. Rennie's edition of Montagu, but 

 to vindicate the character of a great man, which I could not but coasider 

 unjustly aspersed. It demands not the operation of first-rate talents to 

 detect a fault in the design of the most magnificent and best constructed 

 edifices; the works of the most celebrated architects have not escaped the 

 censure of vastly inferior artists; but no one would desire on that account 

 to detra-ct from the reputation of those great masters of their profession. 

 If this obsei-vation be true with respect to those arts whicli can be placed 

 more inmiediately under the eye of the artificer, and are with such fiicility 

 submitted to his correction, how much more forcibly may we not apply it, 

 in defence of the great Linnaeus, who had to explore his path amidst all 

 the snares and labyrinths of a science which the false speculation and 

 erroneous theories of his predecessor had conspired to render more intri- 

 cate and uninviting! 



I do not apprehend that I shall meet with contradiction when I as- 

 sert, that Linnaeus has anticipated our progression by at least two cen- 

 turies. It is impossible to pronounce with any degree of certainty in what 

 state the science would have been found at the present day, had the bright- 

 ness of his genius not shone upon the obscurity in which it was involvecL 

 He laid the foundation, I might almost say, of practical natural history z 

 but his indefatigable spirit did not rest there ; he prosecuted his labours 

 with unremitting perseverance, and set an example worthy of being fol- 

 lowed by every lover of natural history. Yours, &c. — J. D. M. 



The Kingfisher at Bury St. Ebmmds. — Observing (VoL IV. p. 275.) 

 that the kingfisher occurs only in winter in a part of Yorkshire, and in 

 other places only in the summer, I beg to amend my account {Vol. IV. 

 p. 450.) of its occurrence here, by stating that the kingfishers remain 

 about Bury St, Edmunds all winter certainly, and I even think they are 

 more numerous in winter than in summer ; although they have, I think, 

 been more abundant than usual this summer. — Henry Turner. Bury St, 

 Edmunds, October 17. 1831. 



Influence of Rocks iqion native Vegetables. — Dr. A. Murray of Aberdeen 

 has, in Jameson's Journal for June, 1831, made some remarks on our corre- 

 spondent Mr. Thomson's paper, "On the Relations subsisting between Strata 

 ancj the Plants found in their superincumbent Soils." (Vol. III. p. 410.) 

 After a variety of observations relative to districts which he has examined, 

 he arrives at the conclusion, that " it may be laid down as a rule, that vege- 



