Literary Notices. 391 



the reader would imagine that a spherical mirror brings parallel 

 rays to one focus. If this were the case, opticians need not trouble 

 themselves to give telescope mirrors a parabolic form. We should 

 have expected Dr. Arnott to give a popular explanation of polarized 

 light, but this subject is passed to " persons who have leisure." We 

 presume this means that the learned doctor had not leisure enough 

 to complete his task. 



Philocalta : Elementary Essays on Natural Poetry and 

 Picturesque Beauty. By William Purton, M.A. (Shrimpton, 

 Oxford ; Whittaker & Co., London.) — The object of this work 

 seems to be a defence of Aristotle's thesis that poetry is imitation. 

 We do not see that Mr. Purton throws any new light upon the 

 matter. 



The Record op Zoological Literature, 1864. Volume I. 

 Edited by Albert C. L. Gr. Gunther, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., E.Z.S., 

 etc., etc. (Van Voorst.) — The object of this book is the praise- 

 worthy one of providing a catalogue raisonne of the zoological 

 publications and information of the year. It is not likely that the 

 hrst volume of such a difficult undertaking should be all that could 

 be desired, but much has been accomplished, and students of 

 natural history will be glad to know that a beginning has been 

 made. Such a work ought to find its place in our chief public 

 libraries. 



A Descriptive Catalogue op all the Genera and Species 

 contained in the accompanying Chart op Crustacea. Showing the 

 Range in Time of the Several Orders, with some Recent Types. 

 Illustrated by upwards of 4 ( J0 figures, arranged and drawn by 

 J. W. Salter, A.L.S., P.C.S., and Henry Woodward, F.G.S., 

 E.Z.S., engraved on steel by J. W. Lowrt, F.R.Gr.S. (Tennant, 

 Strand; Lowry, Robert Street, Hampstead Road.) — We do not re- 

 member to have seen any chart of the kind so well arranged, both 

 for reference to the figures, and the explanatory text. The latter 

 occupies a series of pages on the left-hand side of this handsome, 

 double volume, while the chart unfolds to the right. The figures 

 are beautifully engraved, and the work deserves a hearty welcome 

 from geologists and other cultivators of natural history. The 

 various genera and species of Crustacea are grouped together, so as 

 to show the geological period in which they are first known to have 

 occurred, and the extent of their persistence in geological time. 

 Figures of modern species are likewise given to a sufficient extent 

 to indicate the changes that have taken place in the crustacean 

 world. Thus, in addition to the value of the chart for the identifi- 

 cation of fossils, it convej T s a large and valuable amount of really 

 scientific information, compressed into a very convenient and 

 advantageous form. It is very seldom that work of this kind is so 

 judiciously and carefully done. 



British Association Charts for Observations of Luminous 

 Meteors. Printed for the British Association Luminous Meteor 

 Committee. — Under this title a series of star-charts, forming a 

 celestial atlas of fourteen plates, was laid before the meeting of the 

 British Association at Birmingham by Mr. Glaisher. The atlas is 



