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Bibliographical Notices. 369 
of Cassowary was rendered to the science of Zoology by Dr. Bennett 
at a very early period of his residence in Australasia. ‘‘On the 24th 
of August, 1829,” he says, “‘ when walking on the deck of the ship (at 
Erromanga) on a calm evening, I observed an object floating upon 
the water, resembling a dead tortoiseshell cat. So unexpected a sight 
excited my curiosity ; and the boat, which was alongside the ship at 
the time, was immediately manned, and sent to ascertain the nature 
of the floating object. It was found to be the Pearly Nautilus.” 
And thus Dr. Bennett was the first naturalist, since the time of 
Rumphius, who had the good fortune to behold a living specimen of 
this remarkable creature, almost the sole living representative of that 
great group of chambered Cephalopods whose remains are to be met 
with in some of the oldest of geological formations. Who cannot 
enter into the feelings of our author, when the supposed tortoiseshell 
cat turned out such a prize? or sympathize with his friend, referred 
to on page 383, who, on inquiring of a native of the Fiji Islands 
whether he was acquainted with the Nautilus, was coolly informed 
by him that “he had just eaten one”? It appears, indeed, that all 
the time that our zoologists have been longing for the opportunity of 
examining the animal of the Pearly Nautilus, these “ ignorant brutes”’ 
of islanders have been in the constant habit of capturing and devour- 
ing them; and a lady friend of Dr. Bennett’s informed him that she 
was acquainted with a person who was wrecked upon an island near 
New Caledonia, where he was frequently regaled with curried Nautili, 
which he most unpoetically compared with Whelks. 
We have devoted so much space to the consideration of the zoo- 
logical contents of Dr. Bennett’s volume that we have but little to 
spare for that of the interesting botanical information which it con- 
tains. In his fifteenth chapter he describes the curious Australian 
Baobab-tree (ddansonia Gregorii), the enormous gouty stems and 
comparatively small branches of which give it a most singular aspect. 
The sixteenth chapter is devoted to the cultivation of the Orange- 
tree in Australia—a branch of industry which has already made much 
progress, and which, from the peculiar suitability of the climate, is 
robably destined to become of great importance to the colony of 
New South Wales. It appears that it is amongst the orange-groves 
that the singular Cicada, Cystosoma Saundersii, is to be met with, 
and that so constantly that it is known in the colony as the Orange- 
locust. We find also descriptions of the numerous species of Aca- 
cias, Gum-trees, Casuarinas, Araucarias, and Apple-trees ( Angophore), 
and of the several Dammara Pines which have lately been discovered 
both in Australia and the islands of the Pacific,—interspersed with 
interesting accounts of the districts in which these various trees grow, 
and the uses to which they are applied both by natives and settlers. 
The last two chapters previous to that in which Dr. Bennett describes 
his homeward voyage, are devoted to the consideration of the vege- 
table productions of New Zealand and Polynesia, with especial refe- 
rence to those plants which are considered by the natives to possess 
medicinal properties. Amongst these we have an interesting account 
of the Kava (Piper methysticum), which appears to have some claim 
