134 f^ieyitific Notices. 



Am. XXV. Scientific Notices. 



JVotice respecting some Species of Mammalia referred to by Mr. Vigors 

 and Dr. Horsfield in the Xlllth JVb. of this Journal. 



It is with extreme reluctance that Mr. Vij^ors and Dr. Horsfield ob- 

 trude themselves upon the readers of this Journal, in vindication of a 

 Paper inserted by them in a former number, and v^^hich has been com- 

 mented upon, in a somewhat unusual mode of criticism, by one of the 

 writers in the " Bulletin des Sciences JVaturelles.'" 



As the professed object of that work, as far at least as relates to Zoo- 

 logy, is to give a succinct account of the various publications in that 

 science, as they issue from the press ; and as the usual practice adopted 

 by the contributors to it is to notice the labours of contemporary authours 

 with fidelity, but without note or comment; any deviation from this 

 practice at once challenges observation. When such a deviation from 

 the beaten track is accompanied on the part of the writer by a total 

 misrepresentation of the objects of the work which he undertakes to 

 notice, it seems to originate in motives which demand a still closer in- 

 quiry. It is this view of the case which has induced Mr. Vigors and Dr. 

 Horsfield to refer to the criticisms contained in the " Bulletin," and thus 

 invest them with an importance which belongs neither to the subject 

 itself, nor to the writer who has forced them into this contest. 



In the 13th number of this Journal these gentlemen made some obser- 

 vations upon four species of Mammalia, contained in the collection of 

 the Zoological Society. Of these one alone was considered and described 

 by them as a previously unnoticed species. The remaining three were 

 spoken of as either having been considered varieties, or the young of 

 described species, or likely to be so considered. The fact of their being 

 species was held out as problematical, and the attention of naturalists 

 was expressly called to the point for the purpose of ascertaining this fact 

 by the only actual proof which cases of this nature will admit of. In 

 the face, nevertheless, of this explicit statement of their intentions, the 

 writers are misrepresented in the "Bulletin," as having described these 



