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" cours elementaire d'hlstoire naturelle, zoologie par m. mllne 

 Edwards, ouvrage adopte par le conseil de l'instruction publique, 

 etc. Septieme Edition avec 473 Figures.' 1 Paris. 1855. 



A Manual of Zoology, by M. Milne Edwards, Member of the •' Institut," 

 adopted by the Council of Public Instruction of France. Translated by 

 E. Knox, M.D., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on Anatomy, and Corresponding 

 Member of the Imperial Academy of Medicine. Illustrated by 500 

 First-class Wood Engravings. London. 1856. 



There are three works which, taken together, form the elementary course 

 of Natural History prescribed by the Council of Public Instruction in 

 France : — one on Botany, by the grandson of the celebrated Jussieu ; one 

 on Mineralogy and Geology, by Mons. Beudant ; and one on Zoology, by 

 M. Milne Edwards. We purpose directing the attention of our readers to 

 the last mentioned work, and to a translation of it by Dr. Knox, which has 

 recently been published. 



The " Zoologie," in its original form, has already passed through seven 

 editions ; and a letter from its learned author, addressed to Dr. Knox, 

 states that above 30,000 copies have been sold. A sale so large as this 

 is no bad criterion of the merits of the book. By it the public has testified 

 its approval in the most unequivocal manner, and rendered eulogium on the 

 part of a reviewer unnecessary. 



The first edition appeared in 1841. It had 572 pages, with 451 figures. 

 The seventh edition was published in 1855, containing 584 pages, and 473 

 figures. In point of size, and in regard to the number of illustrations, the 

 two editions are much alike, the principal difference consisting in some 

 additional figures, and a few pages of letter-press added to that part of the 

 book which treats of the Mammalia. We cannot but wish that a similar 

 addition had been made to the portion devoted to the other extremity of the 

 animal scale. The information there given is very scanty. Nine pages — 

 and only nine — are occupied with one of the four great groups into which 

 the animal world is divided — that to which M. Edwards gives the name 

 " Zoophytes." Under this term he includes the Echinodermata, Acalepha, 

 Polypes, Polygastric Infusoria, and Sponges. Yet within this humble group 

 occur some of the most interesting phenomena which modern research has 

 revealed, and others as yet but imperfectly seen, wherein the Naturalist has 

 caught glimpses of a truth which he has been unable to seize. No one can 

 be more fully aware of this than M. Edwards himself. Occupying the eminent 

 position he does, and having access to the best sources of information, 

 he must needs know what continental naturalists have been doing, and to 



