2S2 Anah/lkal Notices of Books. 



Mineral Conchologi/ of Great Britain ; or coloured Figures and 

 Descriptions of those Remains of Testaceous Animals or 

 Shells, ^c. Bj/J. SowEKBY. Continued bij J. D. C. Soweuby, 

 F.L.S. S^'c— Nos. Ixxxiv — xcvi. 



In the very long series which we have now to notice, are in- 

 cluded the termination of the fifth volume of the Mineral Con- 

 chology, and upwards of one half of the sixth. The work is 

 therefore hastening rapidly towards its completion, and will 

 shortly furnish to the British student of this extensive department 

 of natural knowledge, an almost perfect illustration of the objects 

 of his research. On his gratitude it will possess claims equal to 

 those which were earned for its original projector from another 

 class of naturalists, by the publication of the " English Botany." 

 Like that standard work, the " Mineral Conchology" may be 

 referred to even with a feeling of national pride; for no country, 

 except England, has yet produced any publications which afford 

 so am))le a view of its natural possessions in either of those vast 

 ranges of science. That two such works should have been the 

 production of the same individual, is among the most extraordinary 

 facts in the annals of Natural History. Respect for his memory, 

 and admiration for his talents and perseverance, can never be 

 effaced from the minds of those who are daily deriving assistance 

 from his multifarious and well-directed labours. 



In the present numbers the species figured and described 

 amount to nearly two hundred, exhibiting examples of about fifty 

 genera. Many of them are entirely new, and of the remainder 

 the greater proportion are more completely illustrated than in any 

 previous sketches. It would be impossible, without incroaching 

 on greater space than can be allowed to us, to dwell on the 

 numerous particulars whicli deserve remark. We must even 

 refrain from pointing out the groups which have received especial 

 attention, such as the GcrvilUa^ Defrancc, of which a new species 

 is figured, in addition to the G. aviculoides, and the G. solenoides, 

 the latter being the type of the genus. We may only venture to 

 notice the two new genera proposed, referring so many of our 



