44 



HE VIEWS. 



C. Kingsley, in "Glaucus," 1855) has lately said that the field of Ento- 

 mology in Britain is fully explored j but I beg to assure him and his 

 readers that such is not the case, for the chances are that, out of fifty per- 

 sons who should this year begin to collect insects, twenty-five would each 

 discover either a new British species, or a new fact in insect economy f 

 Mr. Kingsley and Mr. Douglas on this subject are evidently at variance ; 

 they cannot both be right, and though we have a great respect for Mr. 

 Kingsley, we are disposed, on a question of Entomology, to repose more 

 confidence in the assertions of the author of that capital book, " The 

 World of Insects." The additional matter at pp. 110-117 relates to sea- 

 weeds and marine plants. Take as a sample the following, at p. 116: — 



" Not merely interesting, too, but brilliant in their vegetation, are sandhills ; and 

 the seemingly desolate dykes and banks of salt marshes will yield many a carious 

 plant, which you may neglect if you will; but lay to your account the having to 

 repent your neglect hereafter, when, finding out too late what a pleasant study 

 botany is, you search in vain for curious forms over which you trod every day in 

 crossing fiats, which seemed to you utterly ugly and uninteresting, but which the 

 good God was watching as carefully as He did the pleasant hills inland— perhaps 

 even more carefully ; for the uplands He has completed and handed over to man, 

 that he may dress and keep them ; but the tide-flats below are still unfinished ; dry 

 land in the process of creation, to which every tide is adding the elements of fertility, 

 which shall grow food, perhaps in some future state of our planet, for generations 

 yet unborn." 



At pp. 118-125, we have allusion to various dredging grounds, and 

 much specially about Hastings, of which Mr. Kingsley says — " As the 

 place is so much visited by Londoners, it may be worth while to give a few 

 hints as to what might be done by any one whose curiosity has been ex- 

 cited by the salt water tanks of the Zoological Gardens." So by all means 

 let the reader, if he is going to Hastings, put a " Glaucus, 3rd Edition," in 

 his carpet-bag. 



In our previous notice we observed, " It may well be doubted whether 

 any previous book has appeared for years past which has done more to pro- 

 mote the study of Natural History than the little book we have now under 

 consideration will certainly do," and entertaining this opinion, we are 

 pleased to perceive that the demand for this book is so great that already 

 more than 5,000 copies are in circulation. We notice the 3rd Edition is 

 advertised at the " 6th Thousand." A work that in eighteen months has 

 attained such a circulation stands a fair chance of eventually attaining its 

 " Twentieth Thousand." We trust that Mr. Kingsley, accordingly, will 

 gather together, from Naturalists of all classes, any hints — and surely they 

 owe him every contribution in their power — that might possibly assist him 

 for the " Fourth Edition." 



