396 Bibliographical Notices. 



tion (vol. i. pp. 108-111) in the Amazons' delta, and his judicious 

 deductions therefrom. 



Before concluding, however, we must express our satisfaction at 

 the handy size of Mr. Bates's work. Instead of a mighty cumbrous 

 book, we have here two volumes of small and convenient dimensions; 

 and the first is furnished with a very excellent map, which greatly 

 enhances the pleasure we have in following the traveller's progress 

 on the " Mediterranean of South America." The work, too, has a 

 liberal supply of illustrations, some of which are good, though of 

 others we cannot say much. They are all woodcuts, and, for figures 

 to be inserted in the text, nothing more is required ; but for whole- 

 page engravings, we think this system, so much employed in the 

 publications of Mr. Murray, is decidedly to be reprobated. Mr. 

 Wolf's designs are, of course, beautiful : nothing can be more ani- 

 mated than the drawing of the frontispiece, representing Mr. Bates 

 " mobbed " by an angry crowd of croaking Toucans, or of the assem- 

 blage of water-birds in the foreground of the river- view in the first 

 volume. But both are marred, and the first absolutely spoilt and 

 rendered ridiculous, by the coarse clumsy hand of the wood-cutter, 

 whose name, though it is perceptible in the corner of the engraving, 

 we will mercifully withhold here*. What, howevei', shall we say of 

 the illustration representing the big Spider garotting the Finches, or 

 rather, we suppose, the Tanagers ? We should like to know whether 

 Dr. Sclater (for whose special delectation that pretty family of birds 

 is supposed to have been developed) is aware of a species having 

 four anterior toes, and these toes equally articulated ; for such a 

 one is here delineated by the artist, whose name, whether Brown, 

 Jones, or Robinson, is immaterial. It is enough to say it is not 

 Wolf. 



Here, then, we must leave this interesting work. We can only 

 tender our hearty congratulations to Mr. Bates on his safe return 

 among us ; and trusting tbat his four years' residence at home may 

 have fully restored his health, so materially impaired by his unre- 

 mitting toil on the Amazons, hope that in England he will not forget 

 that virtue which carried him so successfully through all his diflRcul- 

 ties in Brazil, but that, by still continuing the wholesome practice of 

 "paciencia," he may be enabled thoroughly to work out all his 

 remahiing collections, and thus reap to the full the well-merited 

 fruits of his labours. 



Iceland : its Scenes and Sagas. By Sabine Baring - Gould, 

 M.A. &c. With numerous Illustrations and a Map. London : 

 Smith & Elder, 1863. 



A nephew of so distinguished an Arctic voyager as the present 

 highly respected President of the Royal Society, it seems but natural 



* Since the above was written, we perceive that the critic of our learned 

 cotemporary, the ' Natural History Review ' (July 1 863, p. 389), especially 

 commends this frontispiece as "one of the best executed scenes" ever 

 -produced ! Of a truth, tastes differ. 



