Miscellanies. 213 



In the prosecution of this work, he is exceedingly desirous to obtain 

 specimens of any remarkable species not hitherto described, of these ani- 

 mals, either dead or living ; that is, either existing or fossil. 



We beg leave, therefore, in behalf of this eminent and very meri- 

 torious naturalist, and of the common cause, to call the attention of men 

 of science and of collectors to this subject, and with it to that of fossil 

 fishes, that M. Agassiz may be enabled to include within his works as 

 many American species as possible. Our fossil fishes, (or good drawings 

 of them,) our corals, echini, alcyonia, crinoidea, d^c, will be accept- 

 able, and reference may be had to a friend of Prof Agassiz now resident 

 in New York, M. August Mayor, care of Meyrat Nagath, in the same 

 city, who will transmit specimens to Neufchatel, Switzerland, the resi- 

 dence of the author. 



It is exceedingly to be desired that the small list of American subscri- 

 bers to Prof Agassiz' great work on fossil fishes should be augmented. 

 While we have had the pleasure of forwarding a few names of individuals 

 or institutions, we should be much gratified to be instrumental in aug- 

 menting the number, and now again call upon opulent individuals, and 

 upon all institutions for the promotion of science and good learning, to aid 

 in sustaining this undertaking. A notice of the work and of the terms 

 may be found in Vol. xxviii, p. 193, and a full analysis of the first four 

 livraisons, by Prof Jameson, in Vol. xxx, p. 33. 



4. Statistical Tables, exhibiting the condition and products of certain 

 branches of industry in Massachusetts, for the year ending April 1, 1837; 

 prepared from the returns of the Assessors, by John P. Bigelow, Secre- 

 tary of the Commonwealth : Boston, 1838, pp. 209. 



Statistics have as yet occupied but a small part of the attention of the 

 legislatures of our several states, and it is certain that nothing but legisla- 

 tive enactment can ever give us a full view of the varied statistics of so 

 vast a country as this. Mr. Worcester, in the preface to the American 

 Almanac for 1838, remarks justly : " The statistics of the whole coun- 

 try can never be collected by one individual, nor by a society formed for 

 the purpose. If the work is ever accomplished in a suitable manner, it 

 must be done under the direction of the government of the United States. 

 And if the national government should connect this object with the taking 

 of the next census, the design would certainly commend itself to every 

 man of enlightened views, and it would redound to the lasting honor of 

 the administration that should first introduce the system." 



The beautifully printed and correct tables under consideration, sent to 

 us by the kindness of the Secretary of the State, present accurate returns 

 from about seventy distinct branches of industry practiced in the Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts, from which it appears, that the value of her va- 

 rious manufactures for the year ending April 1, 1837, was $91,765,315; 



