THE 



NATURAL HISTORY REVIEW 



A 



QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 



l^uieiu^ and Hotim. 



XXVI. — The Zoology of British Ii^dia. 



(1.) CA.TALOGUE OF THE MaMMALIA IN THE MUSEFM OF THE 



Asiatic Society of Bengal. By Edward Blytli, Curator, 



Calcutta, 1863. 

 (2.) The Birds of India, being a Natural History of all 



Birds known to inhabit Continental India. By T. C. 



Jerdon, Surgeon- Major, Madras Army. 3 vols. 8yo. Calcutta, 



1862-4. 

 (3.) The Eeptiles of British India. By Dr. Albert Griintlier. 



London, 1864^. Published for the Eay Society, by Eobert Hard- 



wicke. 



Haying already spoken of the Mammals and Birds of British India 

 in two former articles upon this subject, we shall on the present 

 occasion confine our remarks to the Eeptiles of the same country, as 

 treated of by Dr. Giinther io the volume recently issued by the Eay 

 Society. But before we commence to speak of Dr. G-iinther's valu- 

 able work, a few words may be devoted to the Society which has 

 published it. A recent writer in the " Athenaeum," which ajffects to 

 consider itself a scientific journal, while acknowledging the merits of 

 Dr. Giinther's volume, takes the Council of the Eay Society soundly 

 to task for having published it. It is alleged that Dr. Giinther's 

 w^ork is of such a character that any ordinary London publisher would 

 have undertaken it, and that it therefore falls within the operation 

 of one of the rules of the Eay Society which enacts that works of this 

 kind shall not be published by that Society. To those who have the 

 slightest acquaintance with London publishers and the general style 

 of their dealings with the authors of scientific works, it is unneces- 

 sary to say anything in reply to this. But the facts are, we believe, 

 N.H.R.— 186.5. Y 



