1162 The System of Nature. 



from land, a herd of what are commonly denominated porpoises, but which are a lar- 

 ger species than the common Delphinus Phocaena, came about his boat. He noticed 

 them to be about ten or twelve feet long ; the head round, and with a single falcate 

 fin on the back, though he believed that one, which he had an opportunity of observ- 

 ing near, had a lower second dorsal fin, not far behind : the colour of most of them 

 piebald, or, as he said, like a Jersey cow. They appeared to be much at play ; leap- 

 ing high out of the water and over each other : but at last his attention was attracted 

 to their raising themselves perpendicularly in the water, in pairs, with two-thirds of 

 their length above the surface. They were somewhat scattered, but he remarked two 

 pairs very near each other ; and each couple maintained the upright position as long 

 as would have allowed him to have taken up a gun, if he had had one, from the bot- 

 tom of his boat, and to level it at them ; their sinking being gradual, from their high- 

 est elevation, in a perpendicular posture, until they disappeared beneath the surface. 

 These animals were not all erect at once, but the whole occurrence was soon over; and 

 no sound was uttered by them, except the usual sniff of breathing. The whole of this 

 occurrence was at a short distance from the observer, and it was related to me -from no 

 motive but of the truth. It was remarked also, that he had never witnessed such an 

 occurrence before. — Jonathan Couch; Polperro, September, 1845. 



Notice of the System of Nature.* 



Every work on science produced by a zealous and earnest mind is 

 advantageous, though it contain errors of detail, or even though its 

 arguments be based on incorrect principles ; ( because it compels those 

 whose duty it is to expose the one or refute the other, rigidly to exa- 

 mine the subject under consideration, and to enforce instead princi- 

 ples which are truly sound : and thus science reaps the benefit of the 

 investigation which such a work, as a matter of necessity, must call 

 forth. But the work before us we pronounce — with entire convic- 

 tion — to be good ; not only on account of the somewhat negative 

 ground advanced above, and to which we may again advert, but good 

 in itself, both on account of the intrinsic value of the principles it lays 

 down and of the manner in which they are applied. 



Having seen the defects of all classifications of animated beings 

 which have been previously published, Mr. Newman proposes, in the 

 present work, the outline of a classification entirely new. Of his qua- 

 lifications for such an undertaking we need not speak : the circulation 

 of two editions of his ' Grammar of Entomology,' and two of his 

 * History of British Ferns,' has enabled the scientific world duly to 

 appreciate his abilities as a naturalist. 



* 'The System of Nature: an Essay.' By Edward Newman. London : John 

 Van Voorst. 





