Monograph of the Family Ramphastidce. 187 



opinion ; but meets this statement by the query, Does not the great 

 destruction of these animals prevent them from attaining their full 

 size? We apprehend .Mr Scoresby's most satisfactory answer should 

 have superseded the necessity of this inquiry. * 



Upon the whole, this volume will be found a very extensive and 

 therefore valuable repository of facts and opinions concerning the 

 Cetacea, somewhat hurriedly, we apprehend, and withal confusedly 

 thrown together ; a particular prominency being at the same time 

 given to the scientific — it would often be more appropriately called 

 the unscientific — history of the several species. The work, moreover, 

 embodies several valuable memoirs which are not of easy attainment. 

 Among these the most valuable are Steller's account of the Rytina, 

 already dwelt upon. There is also the fullest account of the Beluga, 

 we know of, given in the words of the learned Pallas, which is ori- 

 ginal, and truly valuable from the opportunities that illustrious in- 

 dividual enjoyed of investigating its habits and structure : it is taken 

 from his Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica. We may also mention an in- 

 teresting memoir of Van Breda's upon the skeleton of the great Ror- 

 qual brought into Ostend in 1827, and measuring 95 feet; and 

 another, by Mr Campanyo, concerning the anatomy of the Mediter- 

 ranean Rorqual, as seen in an animal 80 feet long, which was strand- 

 ed at the foot of the Eastern Pyrenees in 1828. The skeleton of the 

 former of these has been an object of interest first in Paris, and 

 now in the United States, and that of the latter was last year ex- 

 hibited in Lyons. Read with caution, this volume will prove valu- 

 able to the student, and will be found useful by the man of science. 



II. — A Monograph of the Family Ramphastidce. By J. Gould, 

 F. L. 8. Three parts, folio. 1833-36. London. 

 The ornithological works of Mr Gould have now reached to such 

 an extent, and the illustrations are conducted with so much care, 

 that they have become important as a series of correct and faithful- 

 ly coloured figures. In 1830 a valuable collection of birds was re- 

 ceived from the region of the Himalayas, containing several new 

 forms, and many of the splendid species which were known only from 

 collections of Indian drawings, or by the descriptions in Latham's 

 general history, drawn up chiefly from these works of eastern artists. 

 It was deemed advisable to publish a selection of these specimens, 

 and under the auspices of the Zoological Society, his first work, 

 "The Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains," appeared; a 

 * See Edin. Phil. Jonrn. Vol. i. 



