

452 Bibliographical Notices. 



work of one hand, and then probably at the sacrifice of other 

 qualities which are obtained by entrusting the preparation of the 

 various parts to specialists. 



"With regard to the second source of inequality there is more to be 

 said. In the old idea of a natural history, such as might be founded 

 upon the writings of Buffon and Goldsmith, the beasts, birds, and fishes 

 occupied the most prominent places, and got by far the greater part 

 of the space at the author's disposal, a proceeding that we can 

 easily understand, seeing that the Vertebrates, and especially the 

 higher forms of them, had already received much attention from 

 naturalists and travellers, while very little was known of either the 

 structure or the habits of the members of the Invertebrate classes. 



We have before us a popular natural history published in 1831. 

 It bears the title of c Button's Natural History of the Globe and of 

 Man; Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects,' is in four octavo 

 volumes, had as its author or editor John Wright, M.Z.S., and may 

 be regarded as having held the place, fifty years ago, of the popular 

 natural history just published by Messrs, Cassell. Of the four 

 volumes three are occupied with a general account of the structure 

 of the earth &c. and with the natural history of Man, quadrupeds, 

 birds, and fishes, the last-named class including the whales, dol- 

 phins, &c. ; while the fourth volume includes the account of the 

 invertebrate animals and of the reptiles, which the worthy H.Z.S. 

 seems to have regarded from a very peculiar point of view. Thus 

 the third volume having concluded with fishes, the fourth begins 

 with shell-fish, among which we find the turtles and tortoises inter- 

 calated between the Crustacea and the Mollusca ! the succeeding 

 chapter deals with reptiles, as to the true nature of which our 

 author seems to be pretty much in the dark, as will be seen from 

 the following general remarks on lizards, which it is desirable to 

 rescue from oblivion if only as a sample of the zoological pabulum 

 ottered to the public only half a century ago. . "It is no easy matter/' 

 says the author, " to tell to what class in nature lizards are chiefly 

 allied. They are unjustly raised to the rank of beasts, as they 

 bring forth eggs, dispense with breathing, and are not covered with 

 hair. They cannot be placed among fishes, as the majority of them 

 live upon the land ; they are excluded from the serpent tribe by 

 their feet, upon which they run with some celerity ; and from the 

 insects by their size ; for though the newt may be looked upon in 

 this contemptible light, a crocodile would be a terrible insect indeed." 



The serpents follow the lizards and newts, and apparently were 

 not regarded as reptiles by Mr. Wright ; and then come the insects, 

 as to which group the author's notions seem to be exceedingly vague, 

 for while his definition of Insects would apply only to the air- 

 breathing Arthropods, he includes in the group the whole of the 

 Invertebrata except the Mollusca, and even some of them. H 

 order of wingless insects contains spiders, scorpions, centipedes, fleas, 

 lice, bugs, the woodlouse, the water-flea, and the leech ! The winged 

 insects form three orders; and all the rest, worms, starfish, cuttle- 

 fish, the polypus, corals, sponges, &c, go together under a fifth 



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