PETEES' HANDBOOK OP ZOOLOGY. 29 



devoted to the skulls of fishes ; the vertebrae of the different regions 

 of the spinal column of a mammal (wolf), a bird (ostrich), and a 

 reptile (crocodile) are compared and contrasted in the sixth and 

 seventh plates. The illustrations of the structure of the verfcebrfe are 

 continued in the eighth plate, together with views of some of the 

 principal modifications of the hyoidean apparatus in the mammal, 

 bird, reptile, and fish. The remaining four plates are devoted to the 

 osteology of the extremities. Two of these contain views of the 

 terminal division of the fore and hind limb of various mammals 

 reduced to the same absolute size, and showing in a very instructive 

 manner the changes in the carpal and tarsal bones, and in the number 

 and structure of the digits. 



From this summary of the contents of the difierent plates, an 

 idea may be gained of the large amount of information to be 

 derived from this Atlas, the production of which at a comparatively 

 moderate price does great credit to the publishers. The drawings 

 are executed in a very artistic style, and with the great advantage of 

 the supervision and nomenclature added by Professor Huxley, they 

 cannot fail to prove a great boon to the student in comparative 

 anatomy. 



VI. — Petees, Caeijs and G-eestaeckee's Handbook of Zooloqt. 



Handbtjch dee Zoologie, von "W. C. H. Peters, Jul. Victor 

 Carus, und C. E. Adolph Gerstaecker. Zweiter Band. Leipzig, 

 Engelmann, 1803. 8vo, pp. 842. 



It is not quite a century since the twelfth edition of the Systema 

 Naturae of Linnaeus made its appearance, and it would be neither 

 uninteresting nor uninstructive if we could have a detailed history of 

 the Manuals of Zoology that have been produced since that day. 

 The fortunate zoologists who witnessed the publication of the 

 Systema Naturae, could take that immortal work as the guide of 

 their first steps in the investigation of the mysteries of their science, 

 and continue to walk by its light for the greater part of their course ; 

 but the very progress initiated by the publication of a good system 

 soon did away with at least one portion of its value, and its import- 

 ance as a " Species Animalium" was not of long duration. "Within 

 little more than twenty years after the appearance of Linne's 



