CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 61 



Greeks and Romans, is indeed scarcely to be doubted, as tliree of them are occa- 

 sionally found in the Mediterranean, and the fourth, Chelonica imbricata, furnished 

 their merchants with the precious tortoise-shell, — an article of luxurious decoration, 

 which appears to have been much used in ornamenting the palaces and villas of 

 the Roman nobles. The soft-bodied species of this family, Sphargis mercurialis, is 

 common on the coasts of the Mediterranean, and is supposed to have furnished the 

 body of the ancient lyre ; and hence the tortoise was dedicated to Mercury, the 

 fabled inventor of that instrument. It is, however, scarcely probable, that the 

 ancients generally discriminated between the different marine species, — those three, 

 at least, which are covered with horny plates, — excepting for the purposes of com- 

 merce." (Ibid p. iii.) 



We regret that our limits do not admit of further extract ; the de- 

 scriptions are luminous, the specific characters being studiously detailed, 

 and the errors of former naturalists corrected. The numbers are issued 

 at intervals of two months, each containing five plates, or rather litho- 

 graphic illustrations, and, from eight to ten individuals. These superb 

 embellishments are drawn upon stone by E. Lear, after the original 

 studies from life, &c., by James Sowerby ; they are coloured by Bayfield, 

 and it is quite impossible to give an idea of their most extraordinary 

 beauty ; the definition, the softness, the breadth, and withal the ex- 

 quisite minutiae of the lithograph, the force, richness, and transparency 

 of the colour, or the illusive accuracy of the delineations. One of the 

 most striking in the number before us, is the ** Testudo Pardalis," noticed 

 for the first time by our author ; it is indeed a magnificent specimen. — 

 Upon glancing over a copy of the prospectus in French, we find the 

 writer's intention so clearly expressed in a brief paragraph or two, that 

 we think it well to transcribe them. 



"L'Auteur se propose de repr^senter non seulement toutes les esp^ces d^jk 

 connues et classics, mais aussi les vari^t^s les plus remarquables ; certains 

 individus, chez lesquels Vkge apporte des changemens considerables, seront aussi 

 figures jeunes et adultes. Comme nous I'avons d^ja dit, les dessins seront, en 

 gln^ral, faits d'aprfes des sujets vivans ; n^anmoins nous avons k regretter que 

 cette mesure si desirable ne puisse s'^tendre k la totality, plusieurs especes n'etant 

 connues que par des individus uniques, conserves dans les Musses. Dans ce cas, 

 I'auteur aura recours aux meilleures sources, commen9ant par des sujets complets, 

 puis des carapaces." 



The NaturalisVs Library y by Sir William Jardine, Bart. vol. v. Edin- 

 burgh, W. H. Lizars. 



This volume, the third of the Ornithological series, is the first of the 

 Natural History of the " gallinaceous birds,*' an order which includes 

 ** all the game birds and all our domestic poultry." Twenty-nine illus- 

 trations from the graver of Lizars, of Edinburgh, accompany the text ; 

 it is almost needless to speak of their merits — the reputation of the 

 engraver is not of to-day or yesterday ; his masterly plates to Williams's 

 Tour in Greece would alone have distinguished his name. The landscape 

 localities in the designs to the Naturalist's Library are in good taste, 

 slightly but spiritedly indicated, and valuable as delineating the natural 

 haunts of the bird. The colouring is unavoidably florid ; but still 

 might be more tenderly touched in in some of the specimens, particularly 

 where the trace of the burin has been entirely lost in the density of the 

 pigment employed ; in this the haste of the colourer is betrayed. How- 

 ever, with the trifling drawback we notice, they present vivid portraitures 

 of this gaudy plumaged tribe ; and the work is, from its cheapness, its 

 multitude and excellence of embellishments, and accuracy of descrip- 

 tion, worthy of the extensive circulation it has attained. A very copious 

 and admirable account of the celebrated Stagirite, from the pen of 



