56 Notices respecting New Books. 



Part IV. — 1. Phenomena of Volcanic action ; 2. Rain map of 

 Europe ; 3. distribution of Reptiles. The first of these is enriched 

 bj' a collection of small but very important special maps of the most 

 celebrated volcanic districts. On the general chart are given the 

 lines of direction of the most important earthquakes of which we 

 have records, and a view of the various volcanic regions. Among 

 the small majis are Lower Italy and the Greek islands, according to 

 Von Buch ; the Sandvv'ich Islands, &c., by Fitzroy ; Iceland after 

 Krug von Nidda, &c. The accompanying table gives the various 

 statistics of height, date of eruption, &c. of all the volcanoes of 

 which these particulars have been obtained. In the Hyetographic 

 map the points receiving equal annual amounts of rain are united by 

 a system of curved lines called Isohyetoses, analogous to the isother- 

 mal lines of Humboldt ; also isotherombroses or curves indicating 

 the distribution of summer rains ; the annual number of rainy or 

 snow'y days, depth of fall, &c., and the direction of the rain winds. 

 In this map Europe is divided into three regions : — the province of 

 winter rains, comprehending part of the southern portion ; of autumn 

 rains, including the remainder of the southern and western portions ; 

 the summer rains belong to the whole interior of the continent. 

 The limits of these regions ai'e of course only approximative. In the 

 distribution of reptiles there are separate sections for the Testudines, 

 Sauria and Batrachia ; the Ophidians have two, one for the innocuous 

 species, and another for the venomous. 



Part V. — 1. Distribution of Birds ; 2. mountain chains of North 

 America ; 3. Ethnographic map of Great Britain and Ireland. The 

 distribution of Birds includes a general map of the world divided into 

 sixteen provinces, and a map for Europe regaixled as a single pro- 

 vince. The second map contains, besides the mountain chains of the 

 North American continent, a map of the Island of Trinidad and 

 Humboldt's plan of the volcano of Jorulla. The Ethnographic map 

 is the result of an endeavour to lay down, as far as the present con- 

 dition of our knowledge will admit, the distribution of the various 

 races by which our islands have been peopled. This is an attempt 

 of acknowledged difficulty, since in a country which has attained a 

 high degree of civilization, the intermixture of the elements which 

 must have taken place necessarily leads to great uncertainty. The 

 general conclusions to which the author of the map (the late Dr. 

 Gustav Kombst) had arrived are as follows : there are five sub- 

 varieties of the Celtic variety, and eight of the Teutonic ; and the 

 following is a probable average calculation of the ethnographic blood 

 of the population of Great Britain and Ireland. 



I. Pure Blood. 



1. Teutonic in England, Scotland, east and north- 



cast of Ireland 10,000,000 



2. Celtic in Cornwall, Wales, Scottish Highlands 



and Ireland 6,000,000 



16,000,000 



