REVIEWS. 71 



Ere concluding, we must express our pleasure at having seen the ad- 

 vantages derivable from the pursuit of entomology, both to the body and 

 mind, so well and so judiciously advocated, in the address to young col- 

 lectors at Eton, &c. We feel certain that his " sermon" is not in the least 

 " too long" for the buoyant and volatile spirits that may now be scanning 

 and (we will not hesitate to say it), perhaps, also, questioning the truths 

 in those light-spirited, cheerily-written pages ; we can truly say of the 

 higher impulses to such pursuits, in the words of the poet 



" This truth philosophy, though eagle-eyed 

 In nature's tendencies, oft overlooks ; 

 And, having found his instrument, forgets, 

 Or disregards, or (more presumptuous still) 

 Denies the power that wields it." 



Heartily do we commend to our readers the excellent and well-timed 

 hints on collecting and preserving coleoptera, furnished by Mr. Wollaston 

 when on the eve of departing once more, and for the third time, to the 

 shores of the Madeira Islands ; and we hope the second volume of the 

 Annual will not appear without something similar being published as to 

 the best means of studying the less known, but hardly less important 

 order hymenoptera, which has been assigned to the long-tried and able 

 hands of Mr. Frederick Smith. 



THE FOSSILIFEROUS DEPOSITS OF SCOTLAND ; being an address to the Royal 

 Physical Society, delivered 22nd November, 1854. By Hugh Miller, 

 Author of "The Old Red Sandstone/' &c., &c. Edinburgh. 1855. 



WE have never read in the space of 32 pages more interesting or valuable 

 matter than that contained in Mr. Miller's address to the Royal Physical 

 Society of Edinburgh. It is the condensed result of upwards of twenty-five 

 years of active geological exploration of his native land, and is intended to 

 point out to younger Scottish geologists the lacunce in Scottish geology, 

 which may be filled up by their labours. In pointing out the wants, Mr. 

 Miller gives a masterly sketch of the geology of Scotland, confined, how- 

 ever, to its palseontological point of view. 



We shall select for our readers so far as we can do so without abso- 

 lute piracy a few paragraphs relative to the old red sandstone and gravel 

 beds of Scotland, in which questions of the highest interest are raised and 

 suggested to the zeal of young explorers. A remarkable and thick con- 

 glomerate, as is well known, forms the base of the old red system in 

 Scotland, above which Mr. Miller distinguishes three groups of strata 



