Bibliographical Notices. 421 



Natural History ' will fulfil the object with which the book has been 

 produced. Its reason d'etre is stated by the author, in his preface, 

 as follows: — "It has been recently asserted," he says, "that zoology 

 is not a subject which can be profitably taught in schools. . . . ; and 

 the present work is an attempt to solve, upon a new basis, the pro- 

 blem how the facts of natural history can be imparted to the pre- 

 viously nninstructed beginner in such a manner that he may obtain 

 some real knowledge of the subject, and not a mere parrot-like 

 acquaintance with a greater or less number of technical names." 

 With this purpose in view, Dr. Nicholson has selected a series of 

 types representing the classes adopted in his former manuals : he 

 describes the structure of these in popular language, and points out 

 at the end of each description what characters of the type are common 

 to the rest of the class to which it belongs. It is evident that the 

 amount of zoological knowledge thus conveyed is very limited ; and 

 as the very essence of such knowledge consists in a more or less exact 

 and extended acquaintance with the various forms which the same 

 type of structure can put on in its different living manifestations, it 

 is clear 1 that the zoological ideas to be acquired by the learner from 

 this book will be of a peculiarly imperfect kind. 



The value of such a work as Dr. Nicholson's must depend greatly 

 on the selection of the types ; and among the lower classes of the 

 animal kingdom, at all events, it is almost impossible to select types 

 which shall really be good general representatives of their classes. 

 In the book before us, Amoeba serves as the type of the Rhizopoda, 

 Hydra of the Hydrozoa, a rotifer of the Scolecida, and the leech of 

 the Annelida. 



It seems to us that what is needed in order to popularize the study 

 of zoology among the young is a treatment of the subject in a rather 

 more picturesque style, a recognition that the creatures treated of 

 are living beings with most interesting habits and functional pecu- 

 liarities to be studied, and not mere agglomerations of organs to be 

 anatomized. This purpose Dr. Nicholson's new manual does not 

 fulfil ; and for teaching junior classes we should greatly prefer his 

 little ' Introductory Text-book of Zoology.' 



Endomycici Becitati. A Catalogue of the Endomycici, Sfc, with 

 Descriptions of New Species and Notes. With a Plate by E. W. 

 Robinson. By Henry Stephen Gorham, Yicar of Shipley, Sussex. 

 Williams and Norgate. 



Under the above singular title Mr. Gorham has given us a useful cata- 

 logue of the Coleopterous family Endomychidee. The number of 

 species belonging to it is not large, with the new species here described 

 amounting to 302, arranged under 46 gonera. The author names 

 the Endomychidas a "group," here called Endomycici; and its sub- 

 families he elevates to the rank of families, with the addition of one 

 bearing the very awkward name of Paussidoidae. No reason for 

 these alterations is given ; so we suppose we must attribute them to 

 the illusive eccentricity of inexperience ; but they are to be regretted 

 both as unnecessary and as tending to give a low idea of the logical 



