43 



II. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



Traite ^Umentaire de Paleontologie, ou Histoire Naturelle des 

 Animaux Fossiles, Par F. J. Pictet, Prof, de Zool. et d'Anat. 

 Comp. a I'Acad. de Geneve*. 4 vols. 8°. Paris, 1844-45. 



Of this work, which has been very favourably noticed by M. 

 Agassiz, the friend of the author, three volumes only have hitherto 

 appeared ; the fourth, which is to contain a general resume, and a 

 sketch of the history of organization, founded on the principal data 

 which geology furnishes concerning the various phases through 

 which our globe has passed, will be published, it is believed, very 

 shortly. 



The plan of the work is simple and convenient. The author 

 commences with some general considerations on Palaeontology as a 

 science, on the nature of fossilization, the geological distribution 

 of fossils, the zoological principles of classification, and the determi- 

 nation of fossils. Assuming that his readers possess some knowledge 

 of natural history and comparative anatomy, without which, indeed, 

 any useful knowledge of palaeontology is impossible, he then de- 

 scribes the various genera found fossil, merely enumerating the 

 principal extinct species, and only dwelling at length on generic 

 forms when the genus is no longer met with on the earth. The first 

 volume includes an account of the Mammals and Birds ; the second, 

 the Reptiles, Fishes and Cephalopodous Mollusks ; and the third and 

 fourth include the remainder of the Invertebrata. These volumes 

 being to a certain extent elementary, cannot be expected to present 

 in the body of the work any points, which admit of special notice ; 

 but the views of the author, as expressed in his chapter on the geo- 

 logical distribution of fossils and the succession of extinct species on 

 the globe, and also on the theories which have been suggested to 

 account for palaeontological phaenoraena, it may be useful to put 

 before English geological readers, since, though they do not in all 

 cases agree with the prevalent opinion on such subjects in our own 

 country, they are systematically expressed, and illustrate views held 

 by an important section of continental naturalists. 



It is one of the most elementary facts of geology, that there are 

 certain groups of species found fossil in the various sets of strata of 

 which the earth's crust is made up, and that these demonstrate the 



* Elementary Treatise on Palaeontology, or Natural History of Fossil Animal?. 

 By F. J. Fictet, Prof, of Zool. and Nat. llist. in the University of Geneva. 4 vols. 

 8vo. Paris, 1814-45. 



