114 REVIEWS. 



A Familiar History of Birds. By the late Edward Stanley, D.D., 

 F.RS., Lord Bishop of Norwich. London: J. W, Parker. 1854. 

 Sixth Edition. Price 3s. 



We are glad to see that this very pleasing little volume has met with the 

 encouragement it so deservedly merits ; while the price at which it has been 

 published is so veiy moderate, as to place it within the reach of all. Its 

 object is rather to furnish the reader with rational and interesting facts 

 than to treat the subject of ornithology scientifically. But at a period 

 when the education of every class of the community is rapidly improving, 

 and when the minds of the rising generation are in a state of advancement 

 fitting them for that more perfect knowledge, which in the preparation of 

 elementary books ought to be always kept in view, it is of importance that 

 even the simplest work should be arranged and founded, in some degree, on 

 scientific principles. We accordingly find in the opening chapters some 

 tables of classification carefully compiled from Cuvier and Dumeril, which 

 will prove a great assistance to the young naturalist. And though its 

 pages are not of a nature to attract those who have paid attention to orni- 

 thology as a science, the very pleasing notes they contain on the habits of 

 birds will render them a welcome companion during an idle hour. 



A History of British Ferns. By Edward Newman, Member of the 

 Imperial L. C. Academy, F. L. and Z. S. President of the Ent. Soc, 

 London, &c. 3rd edition. London: John Van Voorst. 1854. With 

 Engravings. Price 18s. 



Of all Cryptogamic plants, perhaps, there are none so universally liked as 

 the Acrogenic fern — from the lichen, that makes the ruined tower look 

 so gray, so venerable, to the slime that on the stagnant pond charms 

 the eye with its verdant greenness, there surely are none with which 

 we are more familiar ; while living, graceful and attractive objects, and 

 when raised, after the lapse of ages, from the stony tomb, still elegant, 

 they lose but little of their beauty. They are 



" voices of the past, 



Links of a broken chain, 

 Wings that bear one back to times 



That cannot come again." 



Leaving the past for the present, we have in the volume now before us the 

 history of those Ferns which inhabit Great Britain and Ireland, amply and 

 faithfully recorded, and the knowledge acquired through many years' study 

 of Mr. Newman's favourite plants, brought before us; so that though many 



