1828.] [ 
521 J 
MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 
The Animal Kingdom arranged, in Con- 
formity with its Organization, by Baron 
Cuvier, &c. &c. By Edward Griffith, 
F.L.S., and others. Part XV.; 1628.— 
Something like a complete work on zoology, 
embracing modern improvements and dis- 
coyeries, has long been imperatively de- 
manded. The subject, though long pur- 
sued with ardour on the Continent by men 
of great eminence in their several depart- 
ments—by such men as Lacepede, Meyer, 
Wolf, Temminke, Savigny, Brogniart, 
Mliger, Le Vaillant and Vieillot, and, 
above all, by Cuvier and his brother—has, 
in this country, been comparatively neg- 
lected, and, certainly, its importance greatly 
undervalued. The very important and ele- 
gant publication before us is intended, by 
supplying an acknowledged deficiency, at 
once to furnish the requisite materials, and 
stimulate to a more effective pursuit of the 
study. It has been some time in a course of 
publication, and has now reached a fifteenth 
part, with no diminution as to research, 
fulness, or ornament: the execution was 
good at the commencement, and continues so. 
Mr. Griffith and his able coadjutozs, Major 
Hamilton Smith, and Mr. Pidgeon, have 
spared neither cost nor labour to present it 
in an instructive and acceptable shape, 
But this is not to do adequate justice, The 
publication, deserving as it is, is not by any 
means so well known as it merits to be. The 
title gives but a very imperfect conception 
of either the object or the contents of the 
book. The work is not simply Cuvier’s 
“ Regne Animal.”” That admirable per- 
_ formance, exclusive of the introduction and 
_ occasional discussions, in which the genuine 
’ spirit of philosophy is every where conspi- 
: 
: 
L 
cuous, is little else than a scientific cata- 
logue, and that not complete, of the living 
' tribes, arranged according to the laws of 
conformation. It, indced, contains only a 
partial selection of the various species, just 
sufficient to illustrate the different genera. 
It was originally intended by him as an in- 
troduction only to his more elaborate work 
on Comparative Anatomy, and chiefly des- 
_ tined for the use of professional students, 
and, consequently, as might be concluded, is 
extremely defective in—or, more truly, is 
utterly unaccompanied by—popular descrip- 
tions relative to instinct, habits, &c. Cuvier’s 
work, therefore, was altogether inadequate 
to meet the purposes which the editors had 
in view; and yet whatever he had accom- 
plished was of too much weight and import- 
_ ance to be rejected. They have, therefore, 
given a careful translation of the “ Regne 
_ Animal,” and supplied from other sources, 
and those only of the most indisputable au- 
thority, whatever was requisite to complete 
their design. They have not only added an 
tire synopsis of existing species, as well as 
account of the fossil ones, more complete 
M.M. New Serics.—Vou.VI. No. 35. 
than any we have hitherto seen; but de- 
scriptions of the several species are given’ to 
an extent proportioned to the importance 
and interest of each. Cuvier’s materials 
will not amount to more than a fourth of the 
whole publication. The names of the editors 
are a sufficient guarantee for the correctness 
and respectability of the general perform- 
ance, which may, therefore, safely be recom- 
mended at once as complete as the existing 
state of the science will admit, and incom- 
parably superior, in point of appearance and 
- illustration, to any thing of the kind in the 
English language. Every body, educated 
and uneducated, with scarcely 2n exception, 
to a certain extent, likes to know something 
about animals ; and a book of reference, not 
likely to balk the referrer, is of incalculable 
value to these, above ali, who wish only to 
consult, but who, when they do consult, ex- 
pect to iind-what they want. 
To enable the reader to judge of the ex- 
tent of the Jabour which the editors have 
imposed upon themselves, it will be sufficient 
to remind him of Cuvier’s classification, 
which they have strictly followed, and com- 
pare what is already done with what yet re- 
mains to be done. ‘The animal kingdom, 
then, is by him divided into— 
1. Vertebrated animals. 
. Mollusea, or shell animals—animals with- 
out a skeleton—boneless, 
3. Articulated animals, or insects, worms, 
&e. 
4, Radiated animals, or zoophiytes. 
to 
The vertebrated are divided into four | 
classes :— 
1. Quadrupeds. 
2. Birds. 
3. Reptiles. 
4. Fishes. 
Each of these classes is again subdivided 
into orders, genera, species. The Grst class 
into the following eight orders, depending 
chiefiy on the teeth and claws :— 
. Bimana. 
. Quadrimana. 
. Carnivora, 
Glires, or rodentia. 
. Edentata. 
. Ruininantia, 
Pachydermata, 
. Cetacea. 
AN ad ® wr 
The second class (birds) into six orders ; 
and these again into families and genera :—~ 
1, Birds of prey. 
2. Passores. 
3. Climbers. 
4, Gallinaceous, 
5, Waders. 
6. Swimmers, 
The fifteen parts—which are all we have 
seen, and all, we believe, yet published — 
3X 
