418 Scientific Reviews. 



tion of the different beds composing this formation, are delineated 

 with a care and accuracy that lead us to hope great things from 

 the abilities of the author. Mr. Forster's memoir will be a paper 

 of reference, and is, from the minuteness of its details, an impor- 

 tant addition to British geology. We know that our friend, Mr. 

 H, L. Pattinson, has some better things on hand than his commu- 

 nication about the hazel nuts, to which we can only allude. 

 • In the department of Botany we have only one paper : — " Re- 

 marks on the distribution of the indigenous Plants of Northumber- 

 land and Durham, as connected with the Geological Structure of 

 these Counties ; by Mr. N. J. Winch. — fhe subject is of consider- 

 able importance, and one which marches with the progress of the 

 two branches of knowledge which it calls to its aid ; and from a 

 familiar acquaintance with which, it springs as naturally as a plant 

 from a rich and luxuriant soil. The authorities which the author 

 at the very onset gives for what appears to some to be a bursting 

 of the streams of knowledge over thfeir boundaries, is superficial and 

 inappropriate ; and, as might have been prognosticated, we find 

 tliat our author has been able to glance at, but never to obtain a 

 profound view, or commanding grasp, of the philosophy of his sub- 

 ject. It is too late now to point out where the intellect may be 

 schooled to such a task : we will merely mention that the paper 

 may be perused with considerable advantage, and that it could not 

 but contain many interesting facts ; one of the most marked of 

 which has been obtained from Professor Sedgewick. The table is 

 very good as a table of comparison, and is a useful addition to the 

 volume. We shall probably extract it in another place. 

 " In Zoology several interesting papers will be found scattered 

 through the volume. Mr. Selby has described at length, and illus- 

 trated by several anatomical figures, the new wild swan (Cygtius 

 Bewickii) discovered by Mr. Wingate ; and which has also formed 

 the subject of a valuable article by Mr. Yarrell, in the last volume 

 of the Linn. Trans. The Hon. H. T. Liddell has a notice of the 

 honey buzzard, (Falco apivorus, Lin.) " an extremely rare bird in 

 the British isles." The specimen M'as shot in the parish of Whit- 

 tingham, Co. Northunib. Aug. 31. 1829. Dr. Johnston contributes 

 an account of a whale stranded, in September last, near Berwick- 

 upon-Tweed, with a figure ; the species is the Balwna boops, Liu. 

 — the Balcenoptera borealis of Lesson ; in whose " Cctaces," by 

 the way. Dr. Johnston would have found a figure, which gives a 

 better idea of the animal than can be derived from his plate, where 

 it is sketched, as it happened to be found, with the belly upwards. 

 Mr. Alder gives a catalogue of the land and fresh water shells found 



in the vicinity of Newcastle ; in which, we observe, he remarks, 

 and probably with justice, that the Helix vitrea of Capt. Brown, 

 published in this Journal, seems to be the H. crystallina, Drap. 

 The Rev. Mr. Turner's notice of the curious feats of a spider, the 

 only other paper in this department. Will be found amongst our Na- 

 tural-JIistorical Collections. 



