ZOOLOGICAL DIAGRAMS. $3 



Ten Zoological Diagrams, Prepared for the Department of Science 

 and Art. By Robert Patterson, M.R.I.A., &c. Day and Son, Lon- 

 don. Price, fully coloured, £2 15 s. 



Animals — How they are Classifkd. By Robert Patterson, M.R.I.A., 

 &c, p. 50. Day and Son, London. Price Is. 



Those who have had any experience in imparting to the young a know- 

 ledge of the various organised beings which inhabit our globe must have 

 long felt the need of a series of accurate representations illustrative of the 

 leading types of animal life. To supply this want, the above diagrams 

 have been prepared under the superintendence of Mr. Robert Patterson, the 

 well-known author of" Zoology for Schools," and the little tract, the name 

 of which we have also mentioned, has just been published, " as a key to 

 the classification" adopted in the diagrams, "in deference to a demand 

 made for such an explanation by many purchasers of the latter." 



It is true that most professors of zoology are provided with diagrams of 

 their own, which are, and always will be, necessary to exhibit to the stu- 

 dent the many details of structure with which it is desirable that he should 

 be made acquainted. But such diagrams, from their very completeness, 

 fail in one important particular, which ought not to be overlooked — namely, 

 of exhibiting at a single view the relations which the several forms repre- 

 sented bear to one another. 



The object, therefore, which the present series is intended to fulfil is 

 two-fold — 1st, To give accurate figures of the individual animals selected 

 for illustration ; and 2nd, To convey correct ideas of the general principles 

 of zoological classification. 



It gives us much pleasure to state that in the first of these objects Mr. 

 Patterson has been signally successful. It matters not which of the sheets 

 we take up, we are sure to find in all faithful representations of the origi- 

 nal forms. One exception must be made. No mollusca ever had the 

 bad luck of being perpetuated in so many vile figures as that of Argonauta 

 argo, and we are sorry to see one more added to the list in Sheet F, and not 

 one word of correction, too, in the accompanying " Explanation." The ar- 

 gonaut sits in its boat, with its siphon turned towards the keel (so far Mr. Pat- 

 terson's figure is right), and its sail-shaped (dorsal) arms closely applied to 

 the sides of the shell (here the diagram is quite wrong, as they are quite 

 withdrawn) : this might have been to show the margin of the aperture ; if 

 so, why does not the explanation say so, as it is likely to confirm most 



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