94 Bibliographical Notices. 



has been so great as to induco the author to make this second en- 

 larged issue. The general nature of its contents is perhaps suffi- 

 ciently explained in its rather detailed title as given above ; so that 

 we need do little more than indicate the mode in which the author 

 has carried out his design. His object has evidently been to com- 

 pile from the most trustworthy authorities a something equivalent 

 to the notes which any of us might wish to prepare for his own 

 use, for reference while going about to zoological museums, or 

 when engaged in the study of books and memoirs on zoological 

 subjects, of course keeping down the size of his book so as to render 

 it a convenient pocket companion. With this view, after a few 

 preliminary remarks on the general classification of animals, the 

 theory of descent, &c, he proceeds to tabulate and briefly charac- 

 terize the subkingdoms, classes, and orders of the animal kingdom, 

 including both fossil and recent forms, and finally under each order 

 gives a list of the more important genera arranged under their 

 respective families, the latter, however, not characterized. Not- 

 withstanding the extreme conciseness with which the whole subject 

 is treated, the author generally indicates not only the bare characters 

 by which the different groups are to be distinguished, but also certain 

 interesting points in the structure, habits, or development of the 

 animals composing them, and, not content with merely mentioning 

 the author whose opinion he adopts, usually, in cases of doubt, or 

 where different views are extant, discusses briefly the opinions which 

 he has not followed. This has the double advantage of furnishing 

 a considerable amount of useful information to the reader, and of 

 getting rid of the difficulty which must always be experienced in 

 the use of many a systematic handbook in which the author treats 

 his classification as if it were the sole one possible. As regards 

 the classification here actually adopted, it is, of course, like all 

 other classifications, open to criticism here and there ; but, taken 

 as a whole, it may certainly be regarded as holding a fairly 

 middle line among the modern zoological systems, and thus, in 

 itself, is very satisfactory. Of course so small a book can afford no 

 space for illustrations. 



Mr. Pascoe has added considerably to the value of his work in 

 the present edition by appending to it a glossary of terms, which, 

 notwithstanding some few defects, will prove useful, not only to 

 beginners, but, in many cases, even to more advanced students. In 

 days gone by the comparative anatomists and outdoor naturalists 

 used heavily to reproach the systematic zoologist, and especially 

 the so-called " closet naturalist," with his fondness for a compli- 

 cated terminology ; but all the efforts of all the closet naturalists 

 from the time of Linneus downwards were quite unable to produce 

 such a rich harvest of terms as have sprung within the last twenty 

 years from the prolific brains of the anatomists. We cannot help 

 feeling that much of this complex and daily increasing terminology 

 is quite unnecessary ; but it exists and will be used, and many 



