BRITISH ZOOLOGISTS. 185 



almost impossible one for a single worker now. It is 

 unfortunately not illustrated, and the account given of the 

 lower Invertebrates is necessarily meagre and imperfect. 

 Fleming also wrote a work on ' The Philosophy of Zoology/ 

 in two volumes, and a small treatise on the Mollusca, 

 which appeared first in the seventh edition of the 

 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' and was published later (1837) 

 in a separate form. 



As regards the special group of the quadrupeds, perhaps 

 the most important work published in England at this 

 time was the ' Fauna Boreali- Americana,' or ' Northern 

 Zoology,' of Sir John Richardson, which appeared in 1828. 

 This noble work treated of the zoology of the northern 

 parts of British North America, and was based upon the 

 collections which had been gathered together during the 

 northern land expeditions under the command of Sir 

 John Franklin. The four quarto volumes are admirably 

 illustrated, and treat respectively of the Mammals, the 

 birds, the insects, and the fishes; the insects being 

 described by Mr Kirby, while Swainson took part in the 

 production of the volume on the birds. Unlike the 

 'Arctic Zoology' of Pennant, the 'Fauna Boreali- Americana' 

 was the work of a naturalist who had personally visited 

 the region of which he described the animals. Sir John 

 Richardson had, in fact, been the chief surgeon and 

 naturalist to the overland Arctic expedition of Sir John 

 Franklin in 1825. In 1848, he once more visited the 

 Arctic regions, in the hope of discovering, if possible, 

 what had been the fate of the last disastrous expedition 

 of Franklin. Richardson was a Scotchman, born at 

 Dumfries in 1787. His life was one of great interest, 



