The Progress of Zoology. 263 



have already referred to some of these, and must now be brief. 

 The best resume of the rectifications now generally adopted in 

 the classification of the animal kingdom, is unquestionably Mr. 

 Kymer Jones' General Outline,* and in this will be found care- 

 fully digested, the results of recent inquiries into the structure 

 and physiology of the Quadrumana, the Marsupiata, and the 

 Reptiles. A Dutch zoologist, Professor Yan der Hoeven, of 

 Leyden, has published a valuable systematic work, which has 

 been carefully translated by Dr. Clark. This is the best sum- 

 mary we have of the present state of zoology, and, as soon as it 

 becomes known, will be generally accepted as a safe guide to 

 the results of scientific endeavour in the rectification of funda- 

 mental principles. f The Essay on Classification, by Louis 

 Agassiz,J is a grand analysis of the distinguishing features 

 of the several departments of the animal kingdom. Professor 

 Bell's History of British Quadrupeds, § is a worthy companion 

 to the same author's admirable History of British Reptiles, and 

 the beauty of the illustrations give it that peculiar value 

 which most of Mr. Yan Yoorst's books have ; that of render- 

 ing zoology popular and attractive without lowering the tone 

 of scientific teaching, or coupling with it the sin of inaccu- 

 racy which is so wofully committed by compilers of popular 

 books. But the best monograph of modern times is Mr. 

 Gosse' s Actinologia Britannica,\\ because it compasses untrodden 

 ground, rectifies the errors of Johnston, who stood for this class 

 until Mr. Gosse took it in hand, and develops a system of 

 classification founded on observation, dissection, and experi- 

 ment ; it is, in fact, as near an approach to the model of a 

 natural system as can be imagined in the present state of 

 zoological science. If envy were pardonable, we would envy 

 Mr. Gosse the two-fold capability of wielding pen and pencil with 

 equal effect, and by reproducing living forms of a somewhat 

 untangible character, so that whether by description or repre- 

 sentation, we can not only identify them as counterparts of 

 realities, but penetrate the secrets of their structure, as he him- 

 self has done by unwearied toil and perseverance, with the 

 aids of the aquarium and the microscope. Jonathan Couch's 

 British Fishes^ will probably supersede the great and glorious 



* General Outline of the Organization of the^Animal Kingdom. ByT. Eyiner 

 Jones, F.E..S. London : Yan Voorst. Third edition. 



t Handbook of Zoology. By T. Yan der Hoeven, Professor of Zoology in the 

 University of Leyden. Translated by the Eev. W. Clark, M.D., F.B..S., etc. 

 2 vols. Longman. 



X Longman and Co., and Trubner and Co. 



§ Yan Voorst. 



|| A History of British Sea Anemones and Corals. By Philip Henry Gosse, 

 P.R.S. Yan Voorst. 



^ A History of the Fishes of the British Islands. By Jonathan Coucb, F.L.S., 

 with coloured illustrations of all the species. Groombridge and Sons. 



