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THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



female not represented may happen to present itself. The eggs are in 

 general correctly delineated, although characteristic specimens have not 

 always been selected. But it would require a series of the eggs of each 

 Bird to enable the student to institute comparisons. 



Comparing Mr Meyer's work with those of Mr Gould and Mr Selby, 

 we should say that the figures are much more accurate as to form and 

 colour than those of the latter Ornithologist, generally inferior, but some- 

 times superior to those of the former. As woodcuts, Mr Yarrell's figures 

 are superior to the drawings and engravings of any of these three works, 

 but we should greatly prefer Mr Meyer's, were our object to make out 

 the names of our Birds by comparison. Were it not that the high price 

 of coloured illustrations precludes their extended distribution, this work 

 would be of great value to young Ornithologists, of which we are happy 

 to learn many are fast springing up in all parts of the country. A work 

 containing ample descriptions of form, colour, habits, and distribution, 

 and correctly-delineated figures of the species of British Birds, not 

 so highly priced as to be beyond the reach of persons in moderate cir- 

 cumstances, is yet a desideratum in our scientific literature. 



" History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club." 1839 We have been fa- 

 voured with a copy of " the Proceedings" of this most rational and intelli- 

 gent association, for which we feel much obliged. It contains twelve com- 

 munications, none of which are long, and all most creditable to their 

 respective authors. In our present Number we have supplied a sample 

 of these valuable productions, and purpose to enrich our pages with ex- 

 tracts not less valuable. This Club might serve as a model to other 

 similar associations ; and these unpretending proceedings are not more a 

 proof than an incentive to individual improvement and social delight. 



" Iconografia delta Fauna Italica." Di C. L. Bonaparte, Principe di 



Musignano. Roma, 1839 The Fasciculi, Nos. 24 and 25 of the above 



work, have just reached us, and maintain the highly respectable character 

 of their predecessors. In the former there are illustrations and descrip- 

 tions of twelve individuals of the Fauna of Italy, and in the latter of 

 twenty-one. These commence with two Bats, the Vesperlilio Bonapariii 

 of P. Savi of Pisa, and the V. limbatus of Kiister, first described in the 

 Isis, 1835; to these succeed an account of Chlorospiza Incerta, male and 

 female, with two figures, the Fringilla incerta of Risso and Temminck ; 

 next follow of the Reptilia, five species of Frogs, and three of Toads, 

 and, finally, of Fishes, three Leucisci, and the Carcharodon Lamia, the 

 Squalus Carcharias of Risso. In the latter fasciculus, there is but one 

 Bird, the Gallinago Brehmi, Scolopax Brehmi, Kaup, &c. ; ten of the 

 Lizard tribe follow, illustrated with twenty figures, arranged as Zootoca, 

 Acanthodactyli, JSremice, Phyllodacfyli, Psammodromus, Notopholi, and 

 Tropidosaura ; and, finally, nine Fishes, five of the genus Barbus, three 

 of Gobio, and two Raya Lccvirqja. The descriptions appear to be drawn 

 up with much care, not forgetting the synonyms, which are ample. 

 The plates are good specimens of lithography, and the colouring very 

 commendable. We especially admire the Reptiles and Fishes, doing credit 

 to all concerned, not forgetting the artists of the great city of Rome. 



" Voyage dans L' Amerique Meridionale." Par M. A. D. D'Orbigny . 



The 44th Livraison of this splendid work has also come to hand ; 

 and, whilst we occasionally cannot but be annoyed at the slowness with 

 which it proceeds, the experience of our own work speaks in too em- 

 phatic terms of the countless difficulties which oppose. There are in 

 this Number various titles and indices; which admit of no analysis ; the 

 remainder of the letter-press is occupied with Botany, comprehending the 

 Alga?, ZoosperniEe, and Floridese ; and there are six plates, (engravings,) 

 the first beautifully depicting two Humming Birds, and the remaining 

 Mollusca, than which nothing can be more satisfactory and beautiful. 

 The work does infinite credit to the author and the French Government. 



'• Manuel d' Omiihologie." Par J. C. Temminck. 2d Ed. 4th Part. 

 Paris, 1840 — We hail with pleasure the concluding portion of this Manuel 

 of M. Temminck, who, with all his wonted accuracy, has placed au niveau 

 des decouvertes nouvelles our information in this interesting department of 

 Natural History. Having lately in our own Plates submitted to the atten- 

 tion of our readers several specimens of Partridges, we shall now, in the 

 way of specimen, introduce the new information M. T. supplies upon 

 two of the species. On the P. cinerea he remarks, " The indications we 

 formerly supplied regarding the Migratory Partridge, (P. de passage,) and 

 the mountain one being quite accurate, and having been since verified, 

 these nominal species must be rejected. The Mountain Partridge may 

 be, it is said, a cross between the Grey Partridge and the Red. Concerning 

 this latter-we are informed ' that it is found in Japan, and without under- 

 going the slightest difference either in form or the colours of its plumage.' " 

 Our remarks, and others of a similar kind, have called forth some- 

 thing like a reproof from this great master of the science,— a reproof 

 which each writer will apply to every one but himself, and to which 

 all will do well to attend. " I have not here," says he, "introduced 

 the innumerable citations, indications, and short descriptive phrases with 

 which the periodicals, under the shape of Annals, Zoological Reviews, 

 Proceedings of Scientific Associations, Acts, Memoirs, &c, abound, 



whether published in the Southern part of Australia, or under the ice of 

 the North Pole, and which maintain a childish rivalry as to the priority 

 of citation. When such productions are not accompanied with a figure, 

 and that tolerably good, they only become the torment of Naturalists, 

 and never fail to supply ample matter for inextricable confusion which 

 feeds upon itself, and propagates wider and wider in methodical cata- 

 logues encumbering the species of generic groups. These indications 

 only augment the obstacles to study, and will terminate in completely 

 disgusting amateur Naturalists, who resort to this employment as a re- 

 creation from more severe occupations ; it is very certain that these are 

 not the means by which to render the science either more agreeable or 

 popular." 



" The Naturalist's Library." By Sir W. Jardine, Bart. Mam- 

 malia, Vol. IX. Dogs. By Lieut.-Col. C. Hamilton Smith ; with a 



Memoir of Pallas We regard this volume as highly creditable to the 



author, the Naturalist's Library, and the science of Zoology. The well- 

 known author gives a view of the Diurnal Canida;, the several groups 

 of Canine animals which are provided with a circular pupil. He divides 

 them into ten sub-genera or sections, including the true Wolves, Lyciscan 

 Dogs, the Red Dogs, the Thoa Wild Dogs, Jackals, Dog- Foxes, Fennecs, 

 Aguara Wolves, Aguara Dogs, and Aguara Foxes, and about forty 

 species. He has gleaned from the records of the science, ancient and 

 modern, whatever was most valuable ; to this store he has added his 

 own extensive observations in Europe, Asia, and America, and from the 

 whole has formed a digest which cannot fail to be permanently esteemed 

 by all Naturalists. 



" Magazin de Zoologie, D' Anatomic comparee, S;c." Par M. F. 



E. Guerin Meneville The 7th Number, for the year 1839, of this 



elegant work has just appeared, and is occupied with a description, 

 by M. Isid. Geoffroy-St-Hilaire, of three new genera of Birds sent from 

 Madagascar by M. Bernier, a medical officer attached to the navy. 

 M. I. G. designates them Philepitia, Oriolia, and Mesites ; the first two 

 supplying additional links to the already very extensive group of in- 

 sectivorous Passerines, and the third allied to the Pigeons, Gallinse, and 

 Palmipedes. The three Birds are depicted in elegant coloured engravings, 

 to which a fourth is added, with details of the Mesites. 



" Natural History and Illustrations of the British Salmonidm." By Sir 

 W. Jardine, Bart., &c. No. 1. — We are happy to learn that the second 

 fasciculus of this work is in a state of preparation. We have examined the 

 six plates which form the first Number, and consider them admirable, and 

 we doubt not the remaining ones will maintain the same high character, 

 doing credit to the zealous and indefatigable author. We are inclined 

 to "suggest, with due submission, that, were the price diminished, and 

 the explanatory letter-press brought out in connexion with the superb 

 plates, this work, so fraught with subjects of national importance and 

 scientific interest, could scarcely fail to be as generally received, as we 

 believe it is highly appreciated. 



MISCELLANIES. 



DISCOVERY OP MOMMIES AT DURANGO, MEXICO. 



A million of Mummies have lately been discovered near Durango, in 

 Mexico. They are in a sitting posture, but have the same wrappings, 

 bands, and ornaments as the Egyptians ; among them was found a poignard 

 of flint, with a sculptured handle, chaplets, necklaces, &c, of alternately 

 coloured beads, fragments of bones polished like ivory, fine worked elas- 

 tic tissues, moccasins worked like those of our Indians, bones of vipers, 

 &c. A fact cf importance is stated ; that the necklaces are of a marine 

 shell found at Zacatecas, on the Pacific, where the Columbus of their 

 forefathers probably therefore landed from Hindostan or from Malay, or 

 from their islands in the Indian Ocean. — Silliman's American Journal, 



April, 1839. 



Extraordinary Circdmstance A few days ago, a log of St John's 



yellow pine timber, cut up in the Greenock Patent Saw Mill, was found 

 to contain a hive of bees in a most perfect state of preservation. The 

 log was a root cut of 35 feet in length, and 26 inches square. It was 

 about 140 years of age, as indicated by the annual fibres of the wood. 

 The age of the tree, at the period when the bees seem to have taken up 

 their abode in it, must have been from thirty to forty years, as all the 

 timber beyond that age was perfectly sound and without perforation. 

 The insects were found in drouses of various sizes, all the way up from 

 the bottom of the tree to near the upper end, and each drouse was con- 

 nected with the other by a small aperture, or passage, by which a con- 

 nection was established between all the compartments of the hive. Bees 

 in all stages of growth, and without any wings, were found in it, and the 

 full grown bees, in a state of perfect preservation, presented an appearance 

 exactly similar to that of our own honey bee after being destroyed by 

 smoke". One of the cells filled with the bees still remains at the mill for 

 the inspection of the curious in Natural History — Greenock Advertiser. 



Edinburgh: Published for the Proprietor, at the Office, No. 13, Hill Street. 



London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill. Glasgow, and the West of 



Scotland : John Smith and Son ; and John Macleod. Dublin : George 



Young. Paris : J. B. Bai.liere, Rue de l'Ecole de Medeoine, No. 13, bis. 



THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



