= Notice of British Naturalists. 165 
supplied for the transactions of different scientific bodies. But 
he is scarcely less celebrated among those who knew him, for 
his thorough knowledge of British ornithology, than for his lib- 
erality of feeling ; and many of the museums of his neighbor- 
hood are indebted to him for valuable and rare donations. He 
resides at "['wizel House, Northumberland; a situation well 
adapted from its neighborhood to the sea, for observing and pro- 
curing rare birds. He established, two years since, in conjune- 
tion with his brother-in-law, Sir William Jardine, Bart.—likewise 
zealous naturalist,—the “ Magazine of Natural History,” a 
periodical work which has presented some valuable essays on the 
subject. He is also editor of the “ Library of Natural His- 
tory.” 
In 1828, appeared the “ History of British Animals,” by Joun 
Firmine, D. D., minister of Flisk, Fifeshire, a synopsis, printed 
in one thick octavo volume, chiefly a compilation from previous 
wniters,* 
In 1835, Rev. Leonarp Jenyns of Swaffhaur Bulbeck, near 
Cambridge, published a “ Manual of British Vertebrate ani- 
mals, or descriptions of all the animals belonging to the classes 
Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia, and Pisces,’ &c. He 
had previously published in a pamphlet form, a “ Systematic cat- 
aogue,” containing the ground work of this larger book. 
The materials are nearly all original; on the subject of classi- 
fication, no individual author has been rigidly adhered to; al- 
though he tends towards the opinion held by Mr. Mac Leay, of 
the circularity of natural groups. He was much assisted by Mr. 
Yarrell, as well as by Mr. Gray of the British museum, so that 
he had every facility for producing correctness, and performing 
the work in a good manner. Besides those species now found, 
he enumerates all the extinct species. “The object of the au- 
‘hor is to present naturalists with a manual in this department of 
Our, Fauna, adapted to the existing state of our knowledge, and 
Such as shall be calculated to meet the wants of science in that 
advanced age, to which it has attained since the publication of 
former works of this nature. In furtherance of the end, two 
Sirti ae ae 
"I should desire to speak more particularly of this gentleman and his work, but 
am unable to find any particulars concerning him ; and I have it not in my power 
to meet with a copy of the book at present. Itis, in part, superseded by the later 
Work of Jenyns, 
