sent nothing to the student but a mere catalogue 

 raisonne, collections of names, and occasional de- 

 scriptions of forms ; little else besides, seldom even an 

 allusion to habitats and habits, and the thousand 

 wonders their physiology affords. The labours of 

 Brisseau, and Mirbel, Reaumur, and Bonnet, and many 

 others, British as well as continental, seem to be thus 

 too lightly esteemed, though a brief space occupied 

 in this way might excite attention to what might be 

 otherwise overlooked. Phenomena stated as observed 

 by some might be thus confirmed, and new facts 

 established. We greatly mistake if the student and 

 tyro is not as anxious to find his path strewed with 

 flowers as any other ; indeed, he seems most to require 

 it ; for, in the mere discrimination of one plant, or in- 

 sect, or shell, from its congeners, there is much labour 

 and tedium : it is a duty surely to cheer and enliven 

 that lassitude, and afford some point d'appui for the 

 mind to lean upon in its peregrination. Why not 

 therefore, associate both Nomenclature and Physio- 

 logy ? This would very much relieve the mind when 

 it is weary. Mere discrimination alone will be of 

 very little service, either to social or civil life ; and, to 

 be practically beneficial to these, there must be some- 

 thing more. A mere collector of plants, or insects, 

 or shells, or one who can call them by their names, 

 and assign their proper place in the Systema Natures, 

 is worthy less praise than he who can depict their 

 curious physiology, or trace their relative uses. 

 Fresh excitements would thus be afforded at every 

 step, and new acquisitions to knowledge obtained: 

 for the student, as he climbs the steep acclivity, or 

 rambles through the woods or the dell, or saunters by 

 the brook, if provided with brief abstracts of what has 

 already been discovered in the natural history of this 



