Literary Notices. 301 



changes made known to us by the barometer indicate an enor- 

 mous difference of pressure where great areas are concerned, 

 and this, together with the marked variations in rainfall that 

 accompany oscillations of the barometric column, may well be 

 supposed to exercise a powerful influence on the less stable 

 portions of the crust of the earth. 



But these atmospheric changes are dependent upon causes 

 partly terrestrial and partly cosmic, of which the rotation of 

 the earth and solar heat may be considered as the chief. We 

 must also recognize the probable influence of the moon, known 

 to be so great in the production of oceanic tides, and, as would 

 appear from the analysis of earthquake catalogues by M. Alexis 

 Perry, in some way ancillary to the promotion of concussions 

 and oscillations in the strata of our globe.* 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



A History of the Eishes op the British Islands, by Jonathan 

 Couch, F.L.S. Vol. II. Groombridge. — The second volume of Mr. 

 Couch's valuable work contains an account of seventy-four fishes, 

 and is illustrated by sixty-three of those accurately-drawn and 

 beautifully-coloured plates which are better than all descriptions for 

 purposes of instruction, or identification, and at the same time pro- 

 duce a highly artistic and ornamental effect. Many fishes of great 

 interest are described in this volume, such as the Gurnards, remark- 

 able for brilliant colouring and for possessing highly-developed air 

 bladders, that, in some species at least, are capable of producing 

 vocal sounds. Mr. Couch tells us that the air bladder of this 

 family vary in shape according to the species, but all are firm in 

 texture, and have muscular fibres interwoven in their fibrous tissue. 

 The reader will recollect that in our first vol. (p. 324), under the 

 head of " Yocal Fishes," there is an account of Dr. Dufosse's re- 

 searches, in which he ascribes the sounds produced by the Gurnards 

 and Dories to the vibration of these muscles. We have also an 

 account of the Opah and the Bergylt, which live at great depths, 



* The Tenby Observer mentions a curious phenomenon that may he connected 

 with the late earthquake, having occurred on the same day. It was seen in Car- 

 marthen Bay, and the account states, that — " From a base extending some three 

 or four miles in the direction of Amroth Castle an immense piece of water, of a 

 dark brown colour, as if holding earth in solution, seemed to be pushed forward 

 in the form of a cone, of course surrounded by water of a natural colour. It 

 steadily advanced in the same form towards Monkstone, and thence some miles to 

 sea. Some friends in amusing themselves with fishing were not a little startled 

 by the strange sight. When the coloured water overtook the boat they found that 

 the point of division between the colouring was maintained throughout the depth 

 of the water ; the boat was violently pitched about, and the water thrown com- 

 pletely over it. It was observed first at about eleven a.m." 



