358 ' British Boole s, 



probably by the will of the animal, soon fill the mouths of the dogs which 

 worry it, and unless the Indian women carefully pick them out, seldom fail 

 to kill them. Wolves occasionally die from the same cause." (p. 215.) 



We regret that we have not space for making any extracts from the valu- 

 able observations on the hares of America, to clear the former accounts of 

 which from a labyrinth of confusion, Dr. Richardson has effected much ; 

 and we must express the same regret at being obliged to pass over the genus 

 C^rvus, of which the moose, two varieties of reindeer (the Wood-land and 

 Barren-ground Caribou), the Wapiti, the Black-tailed Deer (C. macrotis 

 Say\ and the Long-tailed Deer (C. leucurus Douglas\ were the species met 

 with by the expeditions. Of the Prong-horned Antelope {Antilope furcifer 

 Smith), an animal principally known from a paper in the 13th volume of 

 the Linnean Transactions ^ by Major H. Smith, an ample account is given. 

 But we must omit further notice of these highly interesting animals, as well 

 as of the bison, the musk-ox, and the argali, or Rocky-Mountain sheep, to 

 extract a brief notice of the Rocky-Mountain Goat (Capra americana Har- 

 lan), which has hitherto been regarded as an antelope {A. lanigera Smith) 

 bearing wool like a sheep. This animal is of the size of the domestic ram, 

 having the form of body and robust neck with the manners and habits of 

 the common goat. Its colour is totally white, except the horns, hoofs, lips, 

 and margins of the nostrils, which are black ; the wool which it produces, 

 intermixed with long coarse hair, grows principally upon the back and hips, 

 hanging down the sides like that of the Merino variety of the sheep. Its 

 flesh is so hard and dry, as to be held in little estimation as food ; but its 

 wool and skin are highly useful, the latter being manufactured by the In- 

 dians into caps and saddles. A specimen of the fleece having been sent by 

 the Hudson's Bay Company to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, was 

 reported, by the person appointed to examine it, to be unlike that of the 

 sheep, of equal fineness throughout, that on the fore part being similar to 

 ordinary wool, and on the back much resembling cotton, the whole being 

 of the first rate quality. The animal frequents the loftiest peaks and steepest 

 precipices of the Rocky Mountains, probably extending from the 40th to 

 the 64th or 65th degree of latitude." (p. 268. et seq.) 



We cannot dismiss this most valuable and interesting volume, without 

 paying a just tribute to Mr. Thomas Landseer for the spirit and accuracy 

 with which his illustrations are executed, and which, as the best perform- 

 ances of his pencil we have yet seen, must, we are certain, add materially 

 ■to his deserved reputation. One figure, however, v/e consider to be a fail- 

 ure : it appears as if the artist were determined to destroy all the ante- 

 lopean characters of the new Capra americana, that it might never again 

 be mistaken for an antelope. By comparing this figure with the specimens 

 in the museums of the Linnean and Zoological Societies, the body appears 

 much too short, the beard and the outline of the throat too well defined, 

 and the appearance of wool wholly omitted. 



There are two plates of osteological illustrations (the skull of Cfrsus 

 ferox, and two crania and teeth exemplifying the new genera Diplostoma 

 and Aplodontia), of which we can only observe that the style of etching is 

 totally unfit for the scrupulous accuracy requisite in displaying minute ana- 

 tomical detail. — H. W. 



Griffith, Edward, Esq. F.L.S. A.S., and others : The Animal Kingdom de- 

 scribed and arranged in Conformity with its Organisation. From the 

 French of the Baron Cuvier. With additional Descriptions of -all the 

 Species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed ; and other ori- 

 ginal Matter. London. In 8vo Parts. XVIII. and XIX. 



Cams, C. G.y Med. et Phil. Doct. : An Introduction to the Comparative 

 Anatomy of Animals, compiled with constant reference to Physiology ; 

 with an additional Appendix on the Discovery of a Circulation in Insects. 



