222 Notices respecting 2v"cto BooJs. 



the reasons wliicli have guided liim; all of which he details to 

 tlie reader. 



From the judgement which Dr. Horsfield 1ms displayed, we 

 >are disposed to think tliat his inquiries would have led, on some 

 occasions, to dilierent conclusions, had his materials lor com- 

 parison been more extensive: but this is not his fault ;—whMt he 

 has observed, he has minutely described ; and these details, if not 

 interesting to the general reader, are useful, and indeed highly 

 valuable to the scientific. That tliey have not been more -ex- 

 tended must be attributed to the lamentable state of the zoolo- 

 o-ical collections in the national Museum, which, instead of being 

 a source of information and oi' reference to zoological writers, 

 is a meagre gathering of a few half-tlecayed quadrupeds and 

 auoth-eatcn birds, exciting the regret of British naturalists, 

 and the contempt of foreigners : but we hope, ere long, for 

 better things ; there appears a good and an improving spirit 

 spreading among those who have poivcr : we trust it will not 

 slumber, but that all parties will join in placing this portion 

 of our public Museum on the same footing with its other de- 

 partments. 



Havino- now endeavoured to do justice to the execution of 

 a work, which merits the support of every one at all interested 

 in these pursuits, we shall briefly notice a few of the principal 

 subjects contained in the five numbers before us. In the first 

 Numbers -Ave Fclis Javanensis awd gracilis, the latter of whick 

 .•n>pears to be a new animal; P'iverra musmiga; Tapirits Ma- 

 laijanm, the Malay Tapier ; Irena puella, (male and female,) ii 

 beautiful bird, allied to the Rollers; Phrenotrix Tcmia (the 

 Temia of Vaill.); these two last are placed as new genera: 

 and Motacdla speciosa. — No. 2. The cjuadrnpeils are, Mijdaus 

 meliceps; Gido orientalis; Tarsi us banca^ms; and Felis Suma- 

 trana. The birds consist of Eurylaimus Javanicus ; a ne^v 

 Pogardus, and tv/o others. — The 3d Number has lupaia 

 Javanica and Tana; a singular long-armed ape, by the name 

 oiSimia ■sjpidacttjia, and Ptcroptis rostra tus. The birds are two 

 species of Falco ; two otliers of a new genus by the name of 

 Timalia, and Cuadsis Xanthorhipiclms, a splendid species. 



In the 1th Nuniber are cor\iium<\,Semnopithccus(SimiaQviv.) 

 maurus; Ursus Malay anus ; Ptcromys gcnibarbis, cmAPtcro^ytis 

 Javaniais. We may here observe, that it would perhaps have 

 been better had the author been less sparing of this latter spe- 

 cific name, v/hicl; implies an exchisivclij local habitat. It is 

 true such species have been found only in Java; but it should 

 be remembered, we know scarcely any tiling as yet of the 

 zoology of the great islands in the Indian Archipelago; and it 

 ib not improbalole that many animals, thus designated, will be 



hereafter 



