Bibliographical Notices* 135 



a sea change." Instead, however, of giving a brief notice of three 

 or four species, we shall content ourselves by taking the following 

 more copious extract, descriptive of the Sipunculus Bernhardus : — 



" The species bury in sand, or in the crevices of rocks, or, as is the cus- 

 tom of the curious animal before us, adopt the shells of dead univalve tes- 

 tacea for a house and home, after the manner of the Hermit Crab. The 

 Sipunculus would appear, however, to be of a less changeable disposition of 

 mind and body than its crustacean analogue, and when once securely housed 

 in a shell to make that its permanent habitation. Whether the egg is ori- 

 ginally deposited in the future habitation of the animal by some wonderful 

 instinct, or is only developed when lodged by the waters in such a locality, 

 or whether the parent Sipunculus bequeathes the chosen lodging of its caudal 

 termination to its eldest born, and so on from generation to generation, a 

 veritable entailed property, we know not at present ; but the inquiry is a 

 most interesting one, and well worth the attention of the experimental zoo- 

 logist. The Sipunculus is not, however, content with the habitation built 

 for it by its molluscan predecessor ; it exercises its own architectural inge- 

 nuity, and secures the entrance of its shell by a plaster -work of sand, 

 leaving a round hole in the centre sufficiently large to admit of the protru- 

 sion of its trunk, which it sends out to a great length, and moves about in 

 all directions with great facility." 



Throughout the entire work, Mr. Forbes makes the most hearty 

 acknowledgments, not only to those who have either by specimens 

 or by communications assisted his present labours, but to those hardy 

 pioneers in the paths of science who first " broke ground" in this 

 department of inquiry. As an example, we select the following tri- 

 bute to Col. Montagu : — 



" It is not merely the copiousness of his descriptions which gives them 

 their peculiar value, though their fulness is a great merit ; nor merely their 

 perspicuity, though that is a still greater merit ; but it is their logical cha- 

 racter, that instinctive perception of the essential attributes and relations of 

 each species, which is the most important faculty a naturalist can possess. 

 Too many of our older naturalists (and can we claim exemption from the 

 fault yet ?) described forms as if there could be no creatures existing with 

 which those forms might be confounded : they wrote of the animals they 

 were characterizing, as if the whole book of Nature was already in print. 

 Montagu was a forward-looking philosopher ; he spoke of every creature as 

 if one exceeding like it, yet different from it, would be washed up by the 

 waves the next tide. Consequently his descriptions are permanent ; and 

 when he had full opportunities of examining any marine animal, subsequent 

 observers have but little to add to his words." 



We may remark, that in Mr. Forbes's own definition of species, he 

 has evinced in no trivial degree the mental characteristics which he 

 has ascribed to Montagu, and that the specific characters are remark- 

 able, not only for the judgment with which they are selected, but 

 for the precision and perspicuity with which they are expressed. 



Yet notwithstanding the pains-taking accuracy with which these 

 definitions must have been elaborated, the book smells not of the 

 lamp. The style throughout is peculiarly easv, varied, and unla- 

 boured. As we turn over the pages, we find we are giving attention 

 to animals, not dried in a cabinet, or preserved in alcohol, but put- 

 ting forth in their native haunts, their several aspects, powers, and 



