48 Mr. Toulmin Smithes Account of the Ventriculidse 



the legs are yellow, and rather short ; the tips of the shanks and 

 of the feet are darker. 



1st var. The feelers are black, yellow at the base, and as long 

 as one-fourth of the body : the mouth is pale red with a black tip : 

 the legs are dull red ; the feet and the tips of the shanks are black. 



The oviparous female. Appears in the autumn, and does not 

 outwardly differ from the viviparous female. 



The male. The feelers are very nearly or rather more than half 

 the length of the body, which is rather shorter than that of the 

 female : the body and the limbs are slightly hairy, and the former 

 is of a pale olive colour : the feelers are black, setaceous, pale yel- 

 lowish green near the base : the legs are also pale yellowish green ; 

 the feet are black ; the hind-thighs are blackish towards the base. 



Length of the body j-1 line. 



[To be continued.] 



VII. — Observations on Dr. Mantell's ''Reply" to Mr. Toul- 

 min Smithes Account of the Ventriculidse. 



The remarks of Dr. Mantell in the ' Annals of Natural History ' 

 of the present month call for a few brief observations from me. 

 I must always regret a difference of views from any one for whom 

 I have a respect, — and especially with whom I have been in 

 habits of friendly intercourse, — when, but only when, any feel- 

 ing of reserve or asperity arises out of that diff'erence of views 

 instead of the cordial desire for still further discussion and in- 

 vestigation, and so getting, in the end, nearer to the truth. 



Dr. Mantell imputes to me presumption in stating that "" the 

 field was an entirely untrodden one and the task a new one," 

 and that " the nature of this class of animals was totally un- 

 known before." I wish to make two answers to this imputation ; 

 first, as regards an implied denial of justice to himself; second, 

 as to the matter of fact. 



First, as to my notice of Dr. Mantell himself. In pp. 73 and 74 

 I use the following language. Having named Dr. Mantell's 

 paper in the ' Linnsean Transactions ' I add : — " That paper was 

 but one among the many results of the indefatigable labours of 

 its author in a field then little trodden and by few feet. * * It 

 can be no reflection on the Discoverer of the Wealden and First 

 Investigator of the Chalk to show that, amid the multitude of 

 objects which engaged his attention, one was not followed out 

 exhaustively." Again, on entering on the classification, I use, at 

 p. 45, the following words : — " I have been unwilling, out of re- 

 spect to the many labours of Dr. Mantell in the field of palaeon- 

 tology, to reject, as others have done without assigning any rea- 



