﻿4:64 
  THE 
  ZOOLOGIST. 
  

  

  NOTICES 
  OF 
  NEW 
  BOOKS. 
  

  

  The 
  Mammals 
  of 
  Great 
  Britain 
  and 
  Ireland. 
  By 
  J. 
  G. 
  Millais, 
  

   F.Z.S. 
  Vol. 
  I. 
  Longmans, 
  Green 
  & 
  Co. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  literature 
  devoted 
  to 
  our 
  British 
  fauna 
  this 
  sumptuous 
  

   volume 
  may 
  be 
  said 
  to 
  have 
  reached 
  the 
  high-water 
  mark, 
  and 
  

   to 
  have 
  raised 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  our 
  insular 
  Mammalia 
  in 
  a 
  very 
  

   appreciable 
  degree. 
  Such 
  a 
  book 
  was 
  long 
  wanted, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  no 
  

   offence 
  to 
  previous 
  publications 
  to 
  say 
  that 
  it 
  has 
  appeared 
  in 
  

   the 
  fulness 
  of 
  time 
  ; 
  other 
  writers 
  will 
  find 
  themselves 
  assimilated 
  

   and 
  quoted 
  in 
  these 
  pages, 
  many 
  almost 
  forgotten 
  observations 
  

   have 
  been 
  reprinted, 
  and 
  a 
  careful 
  research 
  has 
  been 
  made 
  

   through 
  most 
  mammalian 
  records 
  relating 
  to 
  our 
  fauna. 
  Besides 
  

   which 
  Mr. 
  Millais 
  is 
  sportsman 
  and 
  naturalist, 
  and 
  we 
  read 
  that 
  

   Mr. 
  Harting 
  also 
  handed 
  him 
  over 
  his 
  notes 
  which 
  had 
  been 
  

   collected 
  with 
  the 
  idea 
  of 
  a 
  similar 
  enterprise. 
  Consequential 
  

   on 
  these 
  advantages 
  alone 
  the 
  letterpress 
  is 
  thoroughly 
  up 
  to 
  

   date, 
  while 
  the 
  author 
  has 
  very 
  much 
  to 
  detail 
  from 
  his 
  own 
  

   studies 
  and 
  observations.. 
  The 
  great 
  advantage 
  of 
  a 
  faunistic 
  

   book 
  written 
  fully 
  up 
  to 
  present 
  information, 
  is 
  not 
  that 
  it 
  shall 
  be 
  

   accepted 
  as 
  the 
  last 
  word 
  on 
  the 
  subject, 
  but 
  rather 
  that 
  it 
  creates 
  

   an 
  enthusiasm 
  to 
  add 
  still 
  more 
  to 
  a 
  knowledge 
  that 
  is 
  for 
  the 
  

   time 
  amply 
  recorded 
  ; 
  and 
  although 
  it 
  would 
  of 
  course 
  be 
  absurd 
  

   to 
  say 
  that 
  everything 
  is 
  incorporated 
  in 
  this 
  first 
  instalment 
  of 
  

   three 
  massive 
  volumes 
  — 
  and, 
  like 
  Charles 
  Lamb, 
  we 
  love 
  large 
  

   editions 
  — 
  many 
  naturalists 
  will 
  be 
  incited 
  to 
  record 
  an 
  observa- 
  

   tion 
  which 
  they 
  can 
  at 
  least 
  be 
  sure 
  "is 
  not 
  in 
  Millais." 
  

  

  Our 
  mammalian 
  fauna 
  is 
  now 
  somewhat 
  of 
  a 
  vestige, 
  and 
  

   although 
  few 
  of 
  the 
  enthusiasts 
  will 
  be 
  found 
  who, 
  we 
  are 
  told, 
  

   suggest 
  that 
  Wolves 
  might 
  be 
  re- 
  introduced, 
  and 
  their 
  depreda- 
  

   tions 
  paid 
  for 
  " 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  rates," 
  still 
  most 
  naturalists 
  would 
  

   pay 
  a 
  very 
  high 
  price 
  indeed 
  to 
  gaze 
  for 
  only 
  once 
  on 
  the 
  

   Pleistocene 
  mammals 
  of 
  these 
  islands 
  ; 
  in 
  fact, 
  the 
  feeling 
  often 
  

  

  