280 Notices resjjccting New Books. 



Mr. Ricliardson, Cornhill. The Number contains the following 

 original communications : 



Continuation of Dr. A. Smith's Description of the Birds inhabiting 

 South Africa, containing the conclusion of the Stirps Accipitrina, 

 and a portion of the Stirps Falconina, and including the following 

 species stated to be new ; viz. Accipiter mclanoleuciis, Falco chique- 

 roides, Falco pcrcgrinoides, and Fatco riipicoloides. — Historical Ac- 

 count of the Formation, Progress and present State of the European 

 Colony at the Cape of Good Hope, by the Rev. M. Borcherds, Corr. 

 Memb. of the S. African Inst. — Bemarks on the Geology of South 

 Africa, by George Thorn, D.D. Corr. Memb. S. African Inst. — 

 Observations on the Seal Fishery of the Colony, and some of the "physio- 

 logical Peculiarities of Seals, with Remarks on Dyers Islands, &c., by 

 Mr. A. J. Jardine, Memb. S. African Inst. — Continuation of Mr. 

 Bowie's Remarks on the Culture of Exotic Vegetables adaptedjvr the 

 Soil and Climate of South Africa. — Annual Report of the South- 

 African Institution for 1830 (the contents of which we shall notice 

 in our reports of the proceedings of learned societies). 



Besides the original communications just enumerated, there are 

 four useful articles reprinted from the Scientific Journals of London 

 and Edinburgh ; among which we observe Mr. Murchison's paper on 

 the Tyrolese Alps near Bassano, from the Phil. Mag. and Annals for 

 June, 1829. How far the objects of that paper may bear upon the 

 geology of South Africa we are not aware ; but as it describes a 

 series of interesting facts in the relations of the tertiary and secon- 

 dary rocks to each other, from which several important cautions in 

 the examination of those rocks may be drawn, we are glad to see it 

 rendered available by geological inquirers in a portion of the globe 

 so little known to geology as South Africa. Miscellaneous Intelli- 

 gence, principally selected from British Journals, and a medical re- 

 port on the lunatics in Somerset Hospital at Cape Town, conclude 

 the Number. 



On the whole we cannot but deem the South-African Journal a 

 very useful work, and it has our warmest wishes for its success. We 

 would suggest, however, that the occasional introduction of con- 

 densed views (such as Dr. Smith must be fully competentto furnish) 

 of some of the important researches and reforms of science proceed- 

 ihg in Europe, and detailed in our Scientific Journals and Transac- 

 tions of Societies, would considerably augment its utility to the in- 

 vestigators of nature at the Cape, by tending to preserve them from 

 the errors and inconveniences which to some extent are inseparable 

 from their distance from the centres of scientific knowledge in 

 Europe. 



We have also received Nos. 8. to 1 1 . of "The Cape of Good Hope 

 Literary Gazette, devoted exclusively to Literature, Criticism, Sci- 

 ence, and the Advancement of Useful Knowledge." This, we doubt 

 not, must prove to the colonists a useful and agreeable means of diffu- 

 sing and receiving information. We notice in its pages several ar- 

 ticles of a scientific nature, but none that contain any novelties for 

 our readers. 



XLI. Pro- 



