NOTICES Of NEW BOOKs. 71 
Some naturalists are of opinion that the time has not yet arrived 
for the production of a book of such high aim as that now under 
consideration. It must be admitted that systematists are sadly 
behind-hand in the arrangement of many classes of Vertebrates, 
the classification of birds, for example, being in almost as confused 
a slate as ever; but we can see no reason why the present genera- 
tion of philosophical naturalists should be condemned to exist in a © 
state of zoo-geographical ignorance. In a concluding paragraph 
Mr. Wallace expresses a hope that his work may bear to the 
eleventh and twelfth chapters of Mr. Darwin’s ‘ Origin of Species’ 
the same relation which that author’s ‘Animals and Plants under 
Domestication’ bears to the first chapter of that work. It appears 
to us that the standard of excellence aimed at in the present 
undertaking has been satisfactorily and ingeniously attained. 
Life of a Scotch Naturalist: Thomas Edward. By SAmve. 
Sites, Author of ‘ Lives of the Engineers,’ ‘Self Help,’ &c. 
8vo, pp. 438. London: Murray, 1876. 
Wo is Thomas Edward, to whom the Queen has been pleased 
to grant a pension of fifty pounds per annum? and what has he 
done to merit such distinction? are questions which many persons 
no doubt have asked themselves on reading in the newspapers the 
recently-published letter of the Prime Minister. The answer is to 
be found in the book before us, and we have little doubt that to 
the majority of readers the story will be as little known as the 
name of its hero. 
To readers of ‘The Zoologist,’ however, the name of Thomas 
Kdward will be familiar, as that of a frequent contributor to the 
pages of that journal, and a genuine out-door observer and field 
naturalist, who in a quiet, humble way, has done much to further 
the progress of his favourite science. 
A shoemaker by trade, at Banff, and a poor man, he had not the 
means to inform himself as others with similar tastes have done. 
With an intense love for Natural History, and a perpetual thirst 
for knowledge, “he endured,” says his biographer, “as much 
hardship for the cause of Science as soldiers do in a prolonged 
campaign.” He always lamented his want of books, and in the 
