StarJc's Klement.s of Natural History, 1 73 



standing these deductions, the importance of this class as an object of com- 

 merce, and as a supply of food, hold out an inexhaustible field for the en- 

 terprise of nations whose territories approach the sea. 



" Of the migrations of fishes, and the causes which prompt these annual 

 influxes of certain fishes on certain coasts, little is with certainty known. 

 Probably they are regulated by the same causes which influence the migra- 

 tions of birds, — to find food and proper places for reproduction ; and the 

 same instinctive impulse which induces the salmon at certain seasons to as- 

 cend rivers, may bring myriads of fishes to the shores for the same purpose. 



'' Little is known with regard to the comparative age of fishes. The 

 carp has been known to reach 200 years, and the pike to 260 ; and if the 

 whale be found of less size now than in former ages, when their fishery 

 was but little attended to, it may be conjectured, that their age is still 

 more considerable." 



In these four classes, which compose the first volume of the work, besides 

 the recent genera of animals, Mr S. has also given in their place the cha- 

 racters of the fossil genera, and has thus, by placing the former with the 

 present races of animals, connected Natural History with Geology. The 

 volume is concludc^l with a chapter on the Preparation and Preservation of 

 Objects in Natural History ; a List of the principal Writers on the different 

 classes ; and characteristic Engravings, exhibiting the various forms and 

 structure of the animals, upon which the leading characters of their dis- 

 tribution is founded. 



The Second Volume contains the Invertebral animals, under the heads of 

 MoLLuscA, Articulata, and Rabiata. The first division contains four 

 classes, viz. Mollusca proper, Conchifera, Tunicata, and Cirripeda. The 

 second the Annelides, Crustacea, Arachnides, Myriapoda, and Insecta. 

 And the third division includes the Echinodermata, Entozoa, Acalepha, 

 Polypi, and Infusoria. This Volume is concluded by a short sketch of 

 the Vegetable Kingdom, exhibiting the arrangement of Linnaeus, and the 

 Natural orders of Jussieu ; and an Introduction to Mineralogy and Geology. 



After the analysis which we have given of the first volume of this im- 

 portant and valuable work, it is almost superfluous to add any farther re- 

 commendation of it. There is indeed no English work that comes in 

 competition with it, and therefore it must be regarded as supplying an im- 

 portant desideratum in the literature of Natural History. To the Student 

 of Nature, and particularly to the Traveller, we would recommend it as 

 invaluable. Even the learned naturalist, who may possess many of the 

 best materials to which Mr Stark has had access, will find it a most useful 

 manual ; while the general reader will obtain much amusing and in- 

 structive information, in the account which Mr Stark has given of the 

 structure, functions, manners, and habits of many of the species. 



The technical arrangement of the materials is judicious, the style is 

 simple and perspicuous, and a right tone of feeling pervades the whole 

 work. 



The volumes are terminated with copious Indexes, with Descriptions of 

 the Plates, and a List of Works on Natural History. 



