364 Bibliographical Notices. 



The second vertebrae of the same species support cervical ribs 

 articulated to their bodies ; but in all other respects they resemble 

 that of the Crocodile. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIII. 



Fig. 1. Anterior view of the atlas of Plesiosaurus from the Lias : n. p. neur- 

 apophysis; c. centrum. 



Fig, 2. Axis of the same species : n. s. neural spine ; n. p. neurapophysis ; 

 c. centrum ; p. l. pleurapophysis. 



Figs. \ a 8i 2 a. Lateral views of the same vertebrae : the same letters indi- 

 cate the same parts as in figs. 1 & 2. 



Fig. 3 a. Lateral view of the anchylosed atlas and a.xis of Plesiosaurus 

 from the Kimmeridge Clay. 



Fig. 3 b. The articular cup of the same specimen : n. p. neurapophysis ; 

 c. ceiitrum. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Handbook of Zoologxj. By J. Van der Hoeven, Professor of 

 Zoology in the University of Ley den. Translated from the second 

 Dutch Edition, by the Rev. William Clark, M.D., F.R.S. &c. 

 2 vols. 8vo. London, Longmans, 1856-1858. 



Considering the high reputation enjoyed by the ' Handbook of 

 Zoology ' of Professor Van der Hoeven, not only on the Continent, 

 but also amongst many English naturalists, it would be a vFork of 

 supererogation were we to enter here upon any detailed criticism of 

 its merits. A short notice of the classification adopted by the learned 

 Professor of Leyden will, however, probably be acceptable to many 

 of our readers ; and we shall therefore venture to give a general out- 

 line of it before proceeding to the more legitimate object of the pre- 

 sent notice — the consideration of the mode in which Dr. Clark has 

 executed his translation of this important work. 



Professor Van der Hoeven commences his ' Handbook ' with a 

 general introduction to the study of zoology, containing a brief 

 account of the distinctions between inorganic and organic bodies, and 

 of the two great kingdoms into which the latter are divided, — an 

 abstract of the tissues of animals, which he compares with the proxi- 

 mate elements of the chemist, — a very brief description of the struc- 

 ture and functions of the principal organs and of the development of 

 animals, — and concluding with a short treatise on the art of classify- 

 ing. In this he gives the characters of Cuviev's four great divisions 

 of the Animal Kingdom, to which he adds a fifth, the Protozoa, in 

 a foot-note ; but in his own classification he discjirds this distribution 

 " except as a guiding idea," and divides the whole series of animals 

 into seventeen great independent classes. We cannot help consider- 

 ing it a thing to be regretted that this "guiding idea" should not 

 have been rendered more prominent and palpable to the reader ; by 

 taking the opj)osite course. Professor Van der Hoeven lias lost the 



