4976 Notices of New Books. 



very many of the engravings are palpable copies, and this copying 

 sometimes leads to inextricable confusion. Thus, at page 656 is a 

 figure, number 298 : there is but one on the page ; above it is this 

 description, " The accompanying figure (fig. 298) represents the ear of 

 a very large fish, the Lophius piscatorius :" below it is this inscrip- 

 tion, " No. 298, auditory apparatus of the Skate." The object of giving 

 the English name as well as the Latin is doubtless a good one, namely, 

 to render the explanation familiar to the mind of the merest tyro in 

 the science, but in this instance the English and Latin don't mean the 

 same thing — they have no connexion with each other. Turning back 

 to page 634 we are told, " The skeleton of the Cartilaginous Fishes 

 will require a distinct notice, inasmuch as they present very remark- 

 able peculiarities of no inconsiderable interest." This is true, and 

 such of my readers as are not ichthyologists, and I am sure none more 

 so than Mr. Jones himself, will be startled to learn that the Fishing 

 Frog {Lophius piscatorius) is an osseous, the Skate (Raia batis) a 

 cartilaginous fish : the two fishes have no points of similarity, 

 and the names have never before been combined as meaning the same 

 thing: the explanation beneath the figure is given in the second edi- 

 tion only. Now, widely as the osseous and cartilaginous structures 

 differ from each other, highly interesting as are these differences, 

 Mr. Jones has so contrived to confuse them in this instance that it is 

 absolutely impossible to tell which he is describing and figuring : in 

 fact, the conviction is irresistably forced on the mind that Mr. Jones 

 has copied figure 298 from some other author, has forgotten what it is 

 and whence he derived it, and of course is unable to explain. 



Secondly, as to not quoting first hand. The labours of Desmarest, 

 Gray, Gould and Waterhouse have brought to our doors a vast store 

 of knowledge with respect to the marsupial mammals of Australia : 

 when we regard the vast unexplored interior, and compare it with the 

 narrow external strip which we have examined, we shall at once per- 

 ceive that our knowledge is still most incomplete, but nevertheless 

 that it is good and sound as far as it goes, and is perfectly familiar to 

 every zealous inquirer : such zealous inquirer is puzzled on reading 

 the following passage published at the close of 1855 : — " These animals 

 (Marsupials) are peculiar to the Australian and American continents ; 

 nay, in Australia, so anomalous in all its productions,' with one or two 

 exceptions, and these perhaps brought there by accidental importa- 

 tion, all the quadrupeds are constructed after the Marsupial type." — 

 General Outline, p. 760, line 17. I wish the reader to refer, and to 

 see that the passage is given not merely verbatim but entire ; that is, 



