Bibliographical Notices. 67 



with such creatures, is the common Barnacle, and has nothing to do 

 with the species parasitic on the "Whale ; and the representation of 

 the Barnacle in its legitimate place is actually a copy of Darwin's 

 diagram to show the homologies of the pedunculated Cirripedes with 

 the other Crustacea ! 



But what shall we say of the twelve chromoxylographic plates hy 

 Mr. H. N. Humphreys? From the imposing nature of the name 

 applied to them, we were led to expect some grand effort of art, and 

 were rather disappointed when we found that, after all the trouble 

 we had undergone in spelling out the above sesquipedalian word, the 

 articles themselves were simply large woodcuts, with a blue tint 

 across the top and a buff one across the bottom. And this first feel- 

 ing of disappointment was by no means lessened when we came to 

 inspect the woodcuts more closely. The three plates representing 

 the Australian Sea-bears, Penguins, and Gannets are the only ones 

 which we can contemplate with satisfaction ; but even in these we 

 find defects : the principal figure in the group of Gannets, especially, 

 is rendered worthless as a zoological illustration by the fact that it 

 has four front toes on one foot and three on the other, and that the 

 membrane running to the hinder toe is on the outside of the foot in 

 the former case, and on the inside in the latter. Passing over those 

 plates which are intended to have a dramatic interest from the intro- 

 duction of human action, and which are remarkable neither for good- 

 ness nor badness, we may refer to the representation of a " Light- 

 house and Waterspouts" as a miserable failure, and to the plate of 

 " Ocean Fish " as a collection of caricatures. The plate of Crustacea 

 is also indifferent ; but we think that all the preceding are thrown 

 completely into the shade by the unutterable badness of the "Ocean 

 Shells." This is a confused mass of things, so badly arranged, so 

 badly drawn, and so badly managed in every way, that it is only with 

 considerable difficulty that one is able to make out what portions of 

 the group are intended for distinct objects ; indeed, some parts of 

 this plate are still a mystery to us. "We may add that most of the 

 spiral shells are reversed. In the plate of Star-fish, Zoophytes, and 

 Annelides, Mr. Humphreys has again indulged in that tendency to 

 augmentation which prompted him to give the Gannet five toes : it 

 is here exerted upon his Star-fishes, nearly all of which are either 

 furnished with six distinct rays, or with five so placed that the sixth 

 is inevitable. 



It is with regret that we have felt it our duty to find so much fault 

 with one part of the execution of a book which in many respects 

 has been most satisfactorily got up. We have, however, been so 

 long accustomed to see the illustrations even of our popular books 

 on natural history correctly drawn, that any exception to the rule 

 becomes strikingly offensive ; and we can only hope that our remarks 

 may induce Mr. Humphreys to endeavour to obtain some know- 

 ledge of zoology before he again attempts to illustrate a book like 

 the present. 



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