5190 Notices of New Books. 



through this peculiarity. This, it may be said, is hyper- criticism ; 

 but, gentle reader, fear not for thyself, if an entomological scribe : it 

 may be quite excusable in thee. 



1 The Natural History of Ireland.'' In Four Volumes. Vol. IV. 

 Mammalia, Reptiles and Fishes ; also Invertebrata. By the 

 late Wm. Thompson, Esq. London : Henry G. Bohn, York 

 Street. 1856. 



The early death of William Thompson was an event sincerely de- 

 plored by every naturalist in the United Kingdom. He was taken 

 from us in the very prime of life, and in the very zenith of his useful, 

 career. He seems to have had a constant presentiment of the 

 sudden termination of his labours, — to have been fully aware that his 

 life would not be prolonged until the completion of his fondly 

 cherished object, the publication of a complete Natural History of 

 Ireland. In this spirit his will provides that " in the event of his de- 

 cease before the publication of his work on the Natural History of 

 Ireland shall have been completed, it is his wish that the whole of his 

 manuscript relating thereto shall be handed over to Mr. Robert Pat- 

 terson and Mr. James Garrett, both of Belfast, with a request that 

 they would undertake the duties of superintending editors of the 

 same, in order that the whole be carefully published ;" and, again, the 

 will goes on to say, " Should I die before these volumes are prepared 

 for the press, it is my express desire that none of my notes be printed 

 without having undergone rigid correction" adding, " I have always 

 written so hastily and carelessly." These gentlemen undertook the 

 task of editing poor Thompson's MSS. ; but one of them, Mr. Gar- 

 rett, died considerably before its completion. The survivor, however, 

 subsequently enjoyed the co-operation of Dr. Dickie and Dr. Ball. 



The circumstances here detailed, — the presentiment of death and 

 its sad fulfilment; the literary bequest to his friends; the " express 

 desire for rigid correction;" the acknowledgment of "haste and 

 carelessness," — are highly important elements in the publication; 

 and we think that they disarm the critic, as far as Mr. Thompson's 

 own labours are concerned ; but we think, also, that the editors would 

 have shown far more regard to the testator's fame had they complied 

 literally with his request, and submitted the whole of the MSS. to 

 a much more rigid and laborious correction than it appears to have 



