Literary Notices, 61 



Art. III. Literary Notices, 



Pliny's Katural History is proposed to be translated, with notes, &c., by 

 John Bostock, M.D. F.R.S. L.S. G.S. and H.S. M.R I. Member of the Me- 

 dico-Chirurgical, of the Astronomical, and of the Zoological Societies, &c. 

 A specimen of the first and thirty-third books has been printed; in a pre- 

 face to which, the author states that his object is " to present the English 

 reader with a faithful translation, and to give it, as much as possible, in the 

 style of the original." One object of the specimen is to show the kind of 

 notes and illustrations proposed to be added, so as to render the text intel- 

 ligible, without appending " an endless accumulation of matter." To us the 

 notes appear judicious; and the text, being full of the absurdities of the time, 

 is at least very amusing, and, to those fond of antiquity, will be instructive.] 



l^he second number of Dr. Thompson's Zoological Researches and Illus^ 

 trations is nearly ready for publication. It will contain a memoir on the 

 luminosity of the ocean, with descriptions, illustrated by four plates, of some 

 remarkable species of luminous animals (Pyrosoma pygmae'a and Sapphirina 

 indicator), and particularly of the four new gene*a, Noctiluca, Cynthia, 

 Liicifer, and Podopsis of the Schizopodae. 



A Systematic Catalogue of British Insects, by James Francis Stephens, Esq. 

 F.Z.S., &c., the author of Illustrations of British Entomology, is in the 

 press, and will be published by subscription. It will be comprised in one 

 very thick 8vo volume, price to subscribers l/. 1*. This will b»an invaluable 

 work to every entomologist, and we hope it will enable us to attain to 

 greater correctness in spelling the names of insects, than we have hitherto 

 been enabled to do for want of such a guide. 



Flantce Asiaticce Rariores ; or. Descriptions and Figures of a Select 

 Number of unpublished East Indian Plants. By N. Wallich, M. & Ph. D. 

 Superintendent of the Hon. E.I.C.'s Botanic Garden at Calcutta; F.R.S. of 

 Edinb. and Copenh. ; of the Linn., Geol., and Royal As. Soc. of London, &c. 

 To supply a desideratum, which cannot but be regretted by all who are in- 

 terested in the sciences of botany and horticulture. Dr. Wallich proposes 

 to publish a work containing descriptions and figures of a select series of 

 Asiatic plants : an undertaking for which he entertains hopes of being in 

 some manner qualified, by the materials he has accumulated during a resi- 

 dence of more than 20 years in that part of the globe : in 13 of which he 

 had the advantage of being attached to the botanic garden at Calcutta, and 

 of being supported by the matchless liberality of the Honourable East India 

 Company, both in the charge of that noble institution, and during various 

 extensive journeys, performed in Hindustan, Nepal, the Straits of Malacca, 

 and the Burma countries. The work will consist of 3 volumes in folio, 

 each containing 100 plates, engraved and coloured in the best style, from 

 the Honourable Company's drawings, accompanied by full descriptions in 

 Latin, with the addition of such observations in English as may appear 

 necessary and interesting. It will be published in 12 numbers, each con- 

 taining 25 engravings, with the appropriate letter-press; to appear every 

 three months. Price 2/. 105. each number. Subscribers names received 

 by Messrs. Treuttel and Wurtz, the publishers. 



Observations upon the Natural History of many remarkable or hitherto un- 

 described British Plants, and a Catalogue of the rarer Species, collected in 

 South Kent; with coloured Illustrations, etched by the author, Gerard 

 Edwards Smith, Esq., of Saint John's College, Oxford, is in the press, 

 and will be published by subscription. Post 8vo. Bs. 



A Descriptive Account of the North- Western Division of Somersetshire, 

 including the Antediluvian Bone Caverns in the Mendip Hills at Bonwell, 

 Hutton, and Uphill, is announced by Mr. Rutter of Shaftesbury, the 

 author of Fonthill and its Abbey delineated. 



