9C REVIKWS. 



retreats, and wishes others to do so also ; hence the publication of the pre- 

 sent work, which is to be completed in two parts, the first of which is 

 before us. 



" Knowing," says our author, " by experience the difficulties which lie 

 in the way of identifying animals by published characters, I have laboured 

 to remove or to lessen these difficulties as far as was possible. I have endea- 

 voured to make these pages practically useful to the beginner, while yet 

 they should be precise enough to serve the advanced zoologist as a conve- 

 nient medium of reference ; and I believe the student will find here the 

 means of learning, with as little trouble and doubt as possible, the generic 

 name of every animal that has been recognised by naturalists as inhabiting 

 the British seas, from the lowest sponge up to the whale ; and it is not only 

 upon descriptions that the student has to rely, but he has also for his 

 assistance figures, the majority of which are striking as faithful likenesses 

 of the animals they represent." Indeed this is one of the most remarkable 

 features of the present work, that while it is published at so very small a 

 price, it should yet be most copious in the number of illustrations, con- 

 taining figures of no less than three hundred and forty species (a figure 

 of every genus named), of which one hundred and thirty are drawn from 

 living and one hundred and two from preserved specimens, the remainder 

 being copies from Johnston, Forbes, and others. We do, indeed, acquit 

 the author of all vainglory when he affirms that upwards of one hundred 

 figures, taken from living animals in these low forms, constitute a some- 

 what unusual feature in a book of this size and price. 



The part before us contains the following classes : T. Poriphora ; 

 II. Infusoria ; III. Rhizopoda ; IV. Zoophyta ; V. Acalepha ; VI. Echino- 

 dermata ; VII. Turbellaria ; VIII. Annelida ; IX. Rotifera ; X. Crustacea ; 

 XI Cirripedia ; XII. Arachnida ; and, XIII. Insecta. In the synopsis of 

 the classes which part two is to contain, we find, greatly to our surprise, 

 that the class Aves is to be omitted. Why leave out the birds, and include 

 the insects ? Surely many of the former have their home, almost always, 

 in the great deep ? Ask the stormy petrel where its home is. It would, 

 doubtless, say on the crest of the briny wave. We will not deny that it 

 visits, and that often, the dry land ; but if so, why we should convict 

 Aepus mariniis of constantly doing the same. And, then, we have 

 known the Saxicava and, we presume, it will be included in part two 

 have its hiding-place but a little below the nesting-place of some of the 

 to-be-neglected class Aves. We would ask Mr. Gosse to reconsider the 

 subject. Our opinion is, that British marine zoology will be incomplete 

 without the addition of this very interesting class. 



