314 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



The Zoology of the Voyage of II. M.S. Beagle, under command of 

 Capt. Fitzroy, during the years 1832 to 183G. {Published with the 

 approval of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury.) 

 Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, Esq., M.A., F.G.S. 

 Part I. No. I. Fossil Mammalia. By Richard Owen, Esq. 4to. 

 London, Smith, Elder, and Co., 1838. 



It has been long the practice on the continent for the government to 

 defray a part or the whole of the expense of publishing and illustra- 

 ting the accounts of the various voyages and expeditions undertaken 

 for discovery or other purposes connected with science. In Britain, 

 we believe, that until the publication of the Northern Zoology by 

 Richardson and Swainson, little encouragement was thus given to 

 works of a similar kind, and in consequence, an enormous price was 

 set on them, which limited their circulation nearly to the public libra- 

 ries or to those of the most wealthy followers of science and litera- 

 ture. But we are happy now to perceive that this same plan of en- 

 couragement has been still further pursued, and in the instance of 

 two expeditions, one undertaken publicly, the other by a private indi- 

 vidual, the Lords of the Treasury have come forward to assist in 

 defraying the expense of the illustrations ; this we are sure will be 

 attended with the best results for science, and we would only 

 strongly insist that proper precautions should always be used to se- 

 cure the excellency of the work and the cheapness of it to the pub- 

 lic. In regard to that now before us, we are well satisfied in one 

 respect ; but although the first number is certainly cheap, in propor- 

 tion to the run of prices of modern books, yet it will depend on that 

 of the future numbers whether as a whole it will be available to the 

 general reader. Having thus shortly noted our opinion on the plan 

 now adopted for the promotion and assistance of science, we shall 

 endeavour to give an analysis of the part which has at this time ap- 

 peared. 



In July 1831, H.M. ship Beagle was commissioned for the pur- 

 pose of surveying the southern parts of America, and afterwards cir- 

 cumnavigating the world, and Mr. Darwin was appointed naturalist 

 to the expedition. On returning to Britain the collections procured 

 during the voyage proved to be valuable and interesting, and many 

 of them entirely new to science ; and " the object of the present 

 work is to give descriptions and figures of undescribed or imper- 

 fectly known animals, both fossil and recent, together with some ac- 

 count, in the one case of their geological position, and in the other 



