Bibliographical Notices, 57 



volumes;" whilst at the same time he by no means neglects even 

 these, but almost without exception illustrates them by observations 

 drawn from his own ample stores of information, as well as by the 

 more recent discoveries of other naturalists. Nor does he confine his 

 attention solely to existing animals, but furnishes likewise a rapid 

 survey of such as belong to palaeontology, including the extinct as well 

 as the living species ; thereby undoubtedly supplying the most com- 

 prehensive and interesting account which the subject affords. Hence 

 this volume, in many particulars, throws light upon the preceding 

 ones of the series ; at the same time, alone, it presents a lucid sum- 

 mary of the whole extensive department to which it is devoted. 



Maintaining all due respect for the classified arrangement of the 

 Baron Cuvier, Col. Hamilton Smith suggests another, in which there 

 are considerable modifications. Thus, instead of the well-known ar- 

 rangement of the Baron, upon which we need not dwell, the Colonel 

 divides the class Mammalia into two subclasses and twelve orders, 

 as follows : — I. Subclass Placentalia, including ten Orders, 

 namely, Bimana, Quadrumana, Chiroptera, Insectivora, Carnivora, Ce- 

 tacea, Pachydermata, Ruminantia, Edentata and Rodent ia; and II. Sub- 

 class Implacentalia, including the Marsupialia and the Monotre- 

 mata. There are various improvements here, as well as in the ar- 

 rangement of many of the minor groups, which we cannot parti- 

 cularize ; a general commendation, to which we take leave to append 

 only one remark, and that regarding the inexpediency of the intro- 

 duction of the first Order, or Bimana. 



Did space permit, we should gladly have indulged ourselves by 

 supplying some of the interesting information, scientific and popular, 

 which the author with great industry has collected from almost every 

 quarter of the globe. We have been most struck with this in the 

 Order Carnivora, concerning the Felines, the Ermines and other 

 Mustelidce, the Bears and other Ursidce, the Otters, Seals, and Rumi- 

 nantia. Nor, as will readily be credited, has the pencil been want- 

 ing more than the pen, a considerable proportion of the portraits 

 of the different animals being taken from life ; and these, with all the 

 others, derived from the best sources, especially the different mu- 

 seums, domestic and foreign, exhibit in a high degree the taste and 

 execution of the able author. 



We have still to add, that the value of the volume is considerably 

 enhanced by an original memoir of Dr. Drury, an eminent entomo- 

 logist of the last century, who died in the year 1763. Ample mate- 

 rials for the nolicej including a correspondence with contemporary 

 zoologists, have been kindly supplied by the descendants of the 

 zealous naturalist, and these have been very judiciously arranged by 

 the talented author of the biography. 



Books received. 



Nomenclator Zoologicus, continens nomina systematica generum ani- 

 malium tarn viventium quamfossilium, secundum ordinem alphabeticum 

 disposita, adjectis auctoribus, libris in quibus reperiuntur, anno edi- 

 tionis, etymologia, et familiis ad quas pertinent, in variis classibus. 

 AuctoreL. Agassiz. Fasciculus II. continens Aves : 4to, 1842, pp. 90. 



