4886 Notices of New Books. 



Mr. Gosse is better informed on most branches of the subject than 

 on this ; indeed, his published labours on the sea-coast convince us 

 that he is so, and we cordially welcome the little book as a cheap 

 and useful assistant to those sea-side visitors whose mental energies 

 are unsatisfied with crochet and the last new novel. 



" It is now about four-and-twenty years ago, that, in a land far 

 remote from this, I began the study of systematic Zoology, with 

 insects. It is, beyond all comparison, the most extensive class of 

 animals, in fact all but boundless; but in my ignorance I attacked it 

 entire and indivisible, collecting and trying hard to identify every- 

 thing that I found, from the Cicindela to the Podura. I had not an 

 atom of assistance towards the identification, but the brief, highly 

 condensed and technical generic characters of Linnaeus' s ' Systema 

 Naturae,' over which I puzzled my brains, specimens in hand, many 

 an hour. Of course there was much darkness, there were many 

 egregious blunders ; but perseverance did a good deal, and I have 

 never regretted the time spent in that exercise. The leading forms 

 of that great class were familiarized to me in a way that they never 

 would have been if I had merely learned their names from coloured 

 engravings, or from the oral information of some more learned friend ; 

 and what was of far greater value, I acquired the habit of comparing 

 structure with structure, of marking minute differences of form, and 

 became in some measure accustomed to that precision of language, 

 without which descriptive Natural History could not exist. 



" I have endeavoured in the following pages to furnish to the sea- 

 side naturalist what the Linnean Genera Insectorum were to me. 

 That such a book is a desideratum I need hardly say. Many a time 

 have I been asked to indicate some published work, whereby the 

 student who picks up a shell from the beach, or a worm from under 

 stones at low water, may know what it is that he has found. I might 

 indeed point to the admirable works of Yarrell, of Forbes, of Johnston, 

 of Baird, of Bell, of Busk, and others who have written Monographs 

 of particular classes or groups. But this is not what is wanted; — 

 the information required is scattered through so large a number ol 

 volumes, that a book-case needs to form a part of the sea-side 

 visitor's luggage. Moreover, to persons of limited income the ex- 

 pense of these works often forms an insuperable bar to their posses- 

 sion. Thirty pounds would not purchase the books neccessary for 

 the identification of the marine animals of Britain ; while if this sum 

 were expended, there would still remain gaps of awful width, — whole 

 classes, for the recognition of which no English book is extant. 



