298 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practi- 

 cable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi 

 River to the Pacific Ocean, made under the Direction of the 

 Secretary of War in 1853-6. Vol. x. Washington, 1859. 4to. 



We have already on two occasions noticed the work of which the 

 present volume forms a part, as containing large and valuable con- 

 tributions towards our knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of North 

 America, and we have explained the circumstances which led to its 

 production. The 10th volume, which has now been received, con- 

 tains the 3rd and 4th Parts of the General Report upon the Zoology, 

 and the separate Reports of several of the diiFerent Expeditions upon 

 the same subject. Of the General Report upon the Reptiles of 

 North America we are forced to content ourselves with the plates 

 only, the War Department having '* considered it advisable to omit 

 the publication" of this portion of the work on account of " the 

 General Natural History Reports having been extended so much 

 beyond the limits originally contemplated." We do not thank the 

 War Office for this. After bearing the burden of the nine thick 

 quarto volumes already issued, it was hardly worth while to kick at 

 the few sheets of letter-press necessary for the General Report on 

 Reptiles, for which the plates had been already prepared. We fear, 

 after all, that the Government at Washington have not quite liberated 

 themselves from the penny-wise and pound-foolish system which 

 prevails in relation to scientific undertakings on this side of the 

 Atlantic. However, the plates, of themselves, will be of great assist- 

 ance to those who are attempting to follow Messrs. Baird and Girard 

 into the numerous new genera and species which they have created 

 amongst the American animals of this class, and may, we hope, con- 

 vince European naturalists of the validity of these new subdivisions, 

 concerning which at present they seem to be rather incredulous*. 



The General Report on the Fishes collected by the Expeditions, 

 of which the War Department have favoured us with the letter-press 

 as well as the plates, next follows. It is from the pen of Dr. Charles 

 Girard, and, in our opinion, contrasts rather unfavourably with those 

 upon the Mammals and Birds, already issued. The subdivision of 

 genera is here carried to an almost incredible extent ; the numerous 

 supposed new species are but shortly and imperfectly characterized ; 

 and the whole execution, particularly from the misprints being glaring 

 and numerous, bears evident marks of haste. For all that, such a 

 general resume of the present state of our knowledge of this class of 

 animals, as found in the North American continent, cannot be other- 

 wise than an important work, and one that the ichthyologists of 

 Europe will do well to make themselves well acquainted with. 



* See ' Catalogue of Colubrine Snakes in the Collection of the British 

 Museum,' by Dr. A. Giinther (London, 1858), and the same author's 

 remarks in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, p. 385. 



