80 Lih^ary of Entertaining Knotscledge, 



crowded alley," who spends a part of two or three evenings a week with 

 his equals or friends, reading the newspapers and talking over the news of 

 the day, in the " city gin-shop," or ale-house, will be as superior a being to 

 the " peaceful, rosy-faced rustic, with his little ones on his knee," as a gen- 

 tleman of fashion will be to a fox-hunting country squire who never comes 

 to town and who belongs to no club. 



At page 180., mention is made, on the authority of Mr. Bell, of an insect 

 called leather-coat-jack, which will bear heavy carriage wheels to drive over 

 it without sustaining injury. We should like to have some particulars of this 

 insect ; we suspect the author is confounding a story told by Mr. Bell in his 

 Anatomy of Expression^ respecting a human being of extraordinary muscular 

 powers, with some other story which he has heard respecting insects. We 

 are sorry to seem to be severe on the production of a writer who evi- 

 dently means well ; but it is because we wish to put him in the way of doing 

 better. 



The British Naturalist. London. 12mo. 



This is a clever, eloquent, and in several respects an original work. We 

 have sent it to a reviewer who will do it justice in an early Number. 



The lAhrary of Entertaining Knowledge, published under the Superintend- 

 ence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London. 

 12mo. Parts, 2s. each. 



We have formerly (Vol. II. p. 188.) spoken favourably of the commence- 

 ment of this work, and have now before us five additional parts completing 

 the third volume. Vol. i. part ii. is the continuation of the menageries, equally 

 deserving of commendation with parti. Vol.ii. parti, treats of vegetable 

 substances used in the arts and in domestic economy, commencing with 

 timber trees. This, as it could not well otherwise be, is a compilation 

 chiefly from Miller's Dictionary ; it is on the whole tolerably accurate, 

 though not without a few errors and omissions. For instance, at p. 11 1 ., 

 the True Service is said to be a native of the south of Europe, generally 

 cultivated here as a shrub ; and at the same time we are told that the 

 people of Kamtschatka use the fruit as food, and that in some parts of the 

 north a spirit is distilled from it. This error proceeds from confounding 

 the Mountain Ash with the True Service. Vol. ii. part ii. treats of fruits. 

 The author, or rather the compiler, obviously knows little about the sub- 

 ject practically, otherwise he would never have admitted such a passage as 

 the following : — " To the facility of multiplying varieties by grafting is to 

 be ascribed the amazing extension of the sorts of apple, probably from one 

 common stock. The varieties at present known are considerably more than 

 a thousand." From the last sentence we gather, that by extension of the 

 sorts the compiler means increase of sorts, which has nothing whatever to 

 do with grafting, but is effected by raising from seed. Next comes the fol- 

 lowing very inaccurate sentence : — " Of late years these varieties have been 

 increased in a remarkable manner, by the application of the pollen of one 

 sort to the blossom of another." Vol. iii. part i. is on the Pursuit of 

 Knowledge under Dif&culties ,• and part vi., marked, by mistake we sup- 

 pose, vol. iii. part i., is on Insect Architecture. The last two parts are 

 decidedly the best ; that on insect architecture is singularly interesting and 

 entertaining, and will unquestionably have a powerful influence in spreading 

 a taste for- this kind of reading, and for actual observation. It is attributed 

 to our^ correspondent Mr. Rennie, who has enriched it with many original 

 observations marked with his initials. When part ii. appears we shall re- 

 view it at length, and further remarks on " Fruits " and " Timber trees " 

 will be found in No. xxiv. Gard. Mag. 



