4690 Notices of New Books. 



With regard to the second edition, the additions are admirable : 

 the directions by Mr. Wollaston on collecting Coleoptera are the best 

 of the kind hitherto offered for the instruction 

 of the juvenile entomologist. 



The annexed wood-cut, representing Zy- 

 gaena Minos, one of the novelties of the year, 

 has been most obligingly lent me by the 

 Editor of the ' Entomologist's Annual.' My 

 readers will recollect that this novelty was captured in Ireland, as 

 recorded in the pages of the ' Zoologist.' 



1 The Aquarium : an unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea? 

 By Philip Henry Gosse, A.L.S., &c. London : Van Voorst. 

 1854. Post 8vo, 276 pp. letter-press, six coloured plates and 

 six lithographs. Price 17 s. cloth. 



Mr. Gosse is one of the most prolific and pleasant of writers, and, 

 were it not that he occasionally introduces extraneous topics rather too 

 freely, his book would be a most captivating fire-side companion. I 

 must, however, protest against what has been called " the introduction 

 of religious homilies a propos to nothing." I will give Mr. Gosse's 

 heading of an entire chapter in order to illustrate my meaning : — 



" A Meditation— The Spiritual Uses of Natural History— Extremes 

 of Opinion — Spiritual Warrant for the Study — Its Limits — Three 

 Inspired Modes of Treatment— I. Direct Testimony to God— Founded 

 on our Ignorance — On our Knowledge — Various Attributes of God 

 discoverable — Responsibilities — Cain's Offering— II. Moral Lessons 

 by Examples — III. Spiritual Parallelisms — Similes — Types— Symbols 

 — Allegories — God's Message of Grace." 



I have nothing to object to in the mode of treatment: I am willing 

 to believe that an Archbishop of Canterbury himself would not have 

 handled the subject more logically or expressed it with greater unc- 

 tion ; but is it in keeping with what immediately precedes ? " Fiddler 

 C raD — A 'Striking' Species— Ferocity — Greediness — Tit for Tat — 

 An Odd Fish— Rubbish— A Fine Beard, &c. &c." Is it in keeping 

 with the objects for which the book is ostensibly written ? Is it in 

 accordance with the impression by which every advertisement of the 

 book seeks to secure purchasers ? Are we anywhere told, or is it even 

 hinted, that the book is mentally medicinal, a drastic curative, the 



