New Publications. 209 



3. Insecta Lapponica descripta^a Johanne Wilhelmo Zetterstedt. 1 vol. ito* 



Lipsice, 1838. 



When we consider the remote geographical position of the more north- 

 ern regions, in connection with the internal difficulties they oppose to ac- 

 cess from their rugged surface and inclement sky, it seems a matter of 

 gratulation that our information regarding their zoology is so ample as it 

 really is. By far the largest and most important share of it has been the 

 fruit of the many Polar expeditions undertaken of late years ; but much 

 has likewise been contributed by the naturalists of the northern parts of 

 the European continent. The result of their combined researches per- 

 haps warrants the inference, that comparatively few of the higher land 

 animals (birds and mammalia) of the more northern latitudes remain un- 

 discovered ; for while it must be admitted that many tracts have been 

 imperfectly explored, not to say altogether unvisited, it should be borne 

 in mind that the same stern influences of climate and situation by which 

 this has been prevented, operate with equal efficacy in restricting the 

 circle of animal life. 



But our knowledge of northern zoology is not confined to the more 

 conspicuous and easily discovered tribes ; annulose animals have likewise 

 received a due share of attention, and the entomology of several regions 

 has been investigated with much care. This is the case in particular 

 with some of the countries in the north of the continent of Europe, where 

 the study of insects has of late been making rapid progress. It is impos- 

 sible, indeed, to look into the Transactions of northern societies, such as 

 those of Moscow, Petersburgh, Stockholm, &c., without being struck 

 with the large proportion of their pages usually devoted to this subject. 

 Nor is it at all surprising that it should be so. The higher animals indi- 

 genous to a northern climate are necessarily few ; their habits and attri- 

 butes, as far as they fall under the province of the naturalist, are soon 

 ascertained ; and he is therefore obliged, in order to gratify his taste for 

 investigating the characters and relations of specific forms, as well as ob- 

 serving the habits and instincts of living beings, to enter the only field 

 that afibrds scope for exertion. While that of entomology is sufficiently 

 extensive for such a purpose, it is, in one point of view, no inconsiderable 

 inducement to the study, that in a northern locality it is not too ample. 

 The teeming exuberance, and almost endlessly diversified forms of living 

 creatures, in such a region as Brazil, for example, must, we cannot help 

 thinking, produce a discouraging efiect on a naturalist attempting to ex- 

 plore it, when he reflects how small a portion of the collective mass he 

 can hope to become sufficiently acquainted with, or make known to others 

 at a distance ; and that even if the greater part of his life were devoted to 

 the pursuit, he would scarcely make a nearer approach to producinga com- 

 plete fauna of the country, than would the labours of a few husbandmen 

 to convert its pathless and far-stretching forests into level and fertile 

 VOL. XXVI. NO. LI.-T-JANUAllY 1838. O 



