The Zoologist— October, 1870. 2309 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



* Travels of a Naturalist in Japan and Manchuria.'' By Arthur 



Adams, F.L.S., Staff-Surgeon, R.N. Hurst & Blackett. 1870. 



334 pp. Deray 8vo. '*' 



(First Notice.) 



Pleasant it is, very pleasant indeed, to fancy oneself standing on 

 the deck of a good ship as she dances joyously over the waters of the 

 "deep and dark blue ocean" — "borne like its bubbles onwards." 

 Pleasant it is, there to enjoy the companionship of one we have met 

 in days of yore, in that literary career in which there is no turning 

 back : once set in successfully, it is a tide that knows no ebb, but 

 flows on and on, until the hand is weary with the labour and the eye 

 is dim with age : how truly has the wisest of men declared, " of making 

 many books there is no end." Many who were once familiar with 

 Mr. Adams as a contributor to the 'Zoologist' may possibly have 

 feared that his "right hand had forgot her cunning," and could hold 

 the pen no more : I well knew how groundless was this fear ; I well 

 knew that the spirit of the voyager had undergone no change, and 

 that his powers of description were as great as when he first delighted 

 us with his life-like sketches of Nature's handiwork. Let us accom- 

 pany him on board the " Aclaeon," sail where he sails, land where he 

 lands, admire what he admires, and lend a willing ear to all he has to 

 say. He knows what to observe and how to observe. " When 

 traversing the great oceans, besides keeping the towing-net always 

 going whenever the ship is not sailing too fast, and whenever the 

 weather is favourable, he always notes down on a track-chart every 

 species of bird, fish, or mollusk he happens to see. If all naturalists 

 did the same on their voyages, our knowledge of the geographical 

 distribution of marine life would be greatly extended and improved." 



He sails from the Land's End, glances, and nothing more, at 

 Funchall, and anchors in the harbour of Rio, the most magnificent in 

 the world, but sadly misnamed, for it is a land-locked bay, of 

 unparalleled beauty indeed, but not the mouth of a river ; hence to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, where he abandons himself to his besetting 

 sin, a weakness for beetles ; sails to the Straits of Sunda, that " Gate 

 of the East" which opens between Sumatra and Java; shoots pigs in 

 Thwart-the-way island ; and at Krakatua Island he watches the 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. V. 3 A 



