92 REVIEWS. 



" singular coincidences" might have been omitted. Nature is not ruled by 

 numbers ; and in the very next paragraph he tells us of a supplement in 

 which we find some nineteen or twenty genera added to the Annulose 

 forms. 



We have a very high opinion of Mr. Gosse's powers as a draughtsman, 

 and the figures in the first part are indeed excellent ; but we regret that we 

 cannot speak as favourably for many of the sketches in the second part. 

 We know it is not so easy to give a characteristic sketch of a Mollusc as 

 it is of a sea anemone ; but we think a little more trouble might have been 

 profitably spent in delineating the first sub-kingdom in the part now under 

 notice. Some of them would better stand for Egyptian hieroglyphics than 

 for British shells — as, for instance, figures 71, 74, 99, 100, and 103. 

 Others again, while we might be able to identify them, give very erroneous 

 ideas of the shells, the outline being so imperfect — as 64, 73, 82, 90, 97, 

 104, 107, and others. We could give many more instances under both 

 lists, but forbear. One of the generic distinctions among the Cephalopoda 

 is one that admits of being given in a hasty sketch — viz., the arrangement of 

 the suckers — and we would have been glad to have seen the figures of them 

 given more in detail. The figures of the vertebrate animals are better, 

 some of them being excellent. Figure 240, a copy after Yarrell, faithfully 

 follows Yarrell's mistake about the caudal fin, which should have the first 

 and last rays nearly one-fourth as long as the centre ones. 



We were sorry to see that the Sea Birds were not given among the 

 Vertebrates, as they form, in our opinion, a very essential portion of Marine 

 Zoology ; but Mr. Gosse seems to have forgotten the birds since his sojourn 

 in Jamaica. We seldom see even a reference to them in his lately 

 published works. Our Roseate Terns may not vie with the lovely Hum- 

 ming Birds of " Bluefields ;" still they and their brotherhood ought not to 

 be slighted. 



Many additions have been made to our British Fauna, even since the 

 publication of this last part ; and we would suggest to Mr. Gosse that it 

 would be advisable to publish every two or three years a supplement to 

 these volumes, thus bringing them up to the standard of the day, and that he 

 should give us figures of all the new genera. 



The last work on our list deserves a passing notice. It gives us a very 

 pleasing sketch of animal life from its lowest to its highest form. It is very 

 neatly printed, and nicely illustrated ; and we do not know of a better volume 

 on the subject. The language is simple, and yet the dignity of the science 

 is not lowered, and a pleasant, healthy tone pervades every page. 



