CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 157 



A History of British Fishes, by Wm. Yarrell, F. L. S, London : 

 J. Van Voorst. 



The pleasing and lucid style in which the descriptions and cha~ 

 racteristic anecdotes of the finny tribe are written in this work, and 

 the correctness and beauty of the illustrations, fully justify the 

 universal meed of praise which has been bestowed upon the labours, 

 of the talented author and the engraver. To this circumstance, 

 and to the daily increasing thirst for the cultivation of the study of 

 Natural History, may doubtless be ascribed the rapid progress this 

 publication has made in public estimation. 



We had intended to have given extracts from the very interest- 

 ing description of the Pilchard and Herring fishery, and also the 

 mode of obtaining Whitebait — that delicious fish,, so highly esteemed 

 by all epicures — but must refer our readers to the eleventh and 

 twelfth numbers of the work for the information we are reluctantly 

 compelled to omit. Mr. Yarrell satisfactorily proves that the White- 

 bait is a distinct species, and not the young of the Shad, as supposed 

 by Dr. Fleming and others. Dr. Hastinj^s, in his Illustrations of 

 the Natural History of Worcestershire, speaking of the Allice Shad,, 

 observes — " This is another fish which the Severn affords in great 

 perfection ;'' and further remarks, but " although plentiful in the 

 Severn, we hear nothing of the Whitebait." 



A few observations on Religion and Education in Ireland, by the 

 Rev. Edward Stanley, A.^M., Rector of Alderley. Third Edi- 

 tion, with additional Notes. Ridgway, Piccadilly. 



Of the different sects into which the religious world is di- 

 vided, as far as relates to their various tenets, we offer no opinion. 

 Religious and political subjects of a controversial description are ill 

 suited to the pages of a scientific and literary miscellany ; and as 

 we have ever professed to abstain from becoming partizans in these 

 matters, we shall scrupulously maintain our consistency, by adher-^ 

 ing to a resolution formed on mature, and, we trust, a wise, consi- 

 deration. But this is, in every respect, a well-meant pamphlet, 

 and it contains more liberal feeling, and less prejudice, than any 

 publication of the kind which has latterly come under our notice.^ 

 A clear and liberal statement of the Irish people in their religion 

 and education, by an eye-witness, and that eye-witness a clergyman 

 of the Church of England, is not an every-day production ; and 

 now that many legislative enactments are likely to bind the two 

 countries in a closer union, and that the clouds of prejudice and 

 error are giving place to the light of truth and reason, we are bound 

 to notice a publication which is so well calculated to disarm animo- 

 sity, and to produce mutually beneficial results. This pamphet, in 

 addition to its generous intentions, is very ably written. 



