376 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the object of this Society, namely, the reproduction of scarce 
ornithological works. 
We have now before us, through the same channel, a reprint 
of Desfontaines’s “ Mémoire,” of which the full title is given 
above. This is the sole contribution to Zoology which has come 
down to us from the pen of this distinguished botanist. 
The Editor’s Preface informs us that Desfontaines left Mar- 
seilles for Algiers in 1783, for the purpose of investigating the 
geography, antiquities, and natural history of the Barbary States. 
In 1786 he returned to Paris, where he was appointed a Professor 
at the Jardin des Plantes, and where he intended to have published 
a narrative of his travels in Barbary, had not the MS. been 
unfortunately lost during the revolution. 
The present ‘ Mémoire,” which was published in 1789, con- 
tains detailed descriptions and engravings of seven different birds 
which he procured in Barbary, and which at that date were either 
undescribed or very little known. 
We observe that the two reprints now issued by “The 
Willughby Society” do not range in regard to size, the former 
being a demy octavo, the present work a quarto. Doubtless the 
“Mémoire” of Desfontaines could not have been printed on 
smaller paper on account of the plates; but the “ Ornithologia” 
of Tunstall might well have been larger, which would, in truth, 
have been an improvement; for, having been reduced by photo- 
graphy from folio, the diminutive lettering, compressed into eight 
columns on an octavo page, is excessively trying to readers who 
are not blest with the eyes of youth. 
At all events, it is due to Mr. Tegetmeier, under whose 
superintendence these reprints have been produced, to say that no 
pains seem to have been spared in the execution, both as regards 
the letterpress and the plates. In the present “ Mémoire” the 
plates are facsimiles, while the text is a verbatim et literatim 
reprint in type as nearly like the original as possible. The 
original pagination is, of course, preserved, and thus one of the 
objects in view is secured, which is, to enable ornithologists to 
consult and quote the reprint with the same advantage as if 
quoting the original work, of which, from its rarity, it might never 
be their fortune to see a copy. 
