Bibliographical Notices. 397 



by properly appointed men, whether its real purport was mere history 

 and statistics, or the ascertaining of the valuation and capabilities 

 of the district for culture and commerce, might also be made most 

 highly important for a knowledge of its natural productions ; and from 

 the clear manner in which the contents of the present volume (the 

 first of a series) are made out, with the elaborate detail given to 

 some of the departments, we ventured to expect something of a su- 

 perior class, and that some portion of the work would come fittingly 

 under our head of ■ Bibliographical Notices.' The volume is divided 

 into three parts or sections, the "Natural," " Artificial" and " Ge- 

 neral" Notes. It is with the first we have to do, divided again into 



Natural Features and Natural History. 



Hills. Geology. 



Lakes. Botany. 



Rivers, &c. Zoology. 



With this part we are not satisfied. The parish of Templemere 

 is not a very favourable one for displaying the qualifications of a 

 naturalist or for exhibiting what might be done in the records of a 

 local Fauna ; the plan pursued is excellent, but it is sadly deficient 

 in detail. We have the " natural features/' embracing geology and 

 botany, concisely described, giving a view of the general surface and 

 of the vegetation of the parish. Its botanical riches are not great, 

 not more than fifty species being mentioned as worthy of notice, but 

 some of these would be actively sought after by a botanist accus- 

 tomed only to the more usual flora of England or Scotland. For 

 zoology the parish is noted to be unfavourable, and undoubtedly it 

 is for a rare or very interesting list ; but surely in mammalia Tem- 

 plemere can boast of more than a bat and the otter. The latter is 

 given as the Luira vulgaris ; is it the species common to the Sister 

 isle and the continent of Europe ? Seventeen birds are only men- 

 tioned, all of them common, if we except one, which, however, we 

 are at some loss to identify, from the remarks which accompany it. 

 No. 1 1, " Sturnus ? vxtlgaris, or Tardus solitarius ;" if the true solitary 

 thrush, as it is called (a Petro cincla), then it is worth recording; if 

 merely a young starling, scarcely so ; and Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, 

 or Mr. R. Ball could have at once settled that question, if a reference 

 to the " Ordnance Collections" was inconvenient. The fish are bet- 

 ter treated of, though we have only twenty-two species recorded. 

 There are some interesting observations on the genus Scyllium. The 

 list of Mollusca enumerates only Mya arenaria, Turbo Ultoreus, and 

 Mytihs edulis. In this first part, occupying in all only sixteen 



