Notices of New Books. 5331 



latter go in company. They very rarely descend to the ground, — 

 probably only in search of water." — p. 27. 



Mr. Wallace's 'Attempt at a Natural Arrangement of Birds' is full 

 of information and genuine out-of-doors observation, and had the 

 author been unfettered by those chains on the intellect, the artificial 

 methods in books, he would doubtless have succeeded in giving us a 

 digested whole ; as it is, he applies his natural arrangement only to 

 the Passeres, and leaves all the rest in its pristine intelligibility. His 

 views, wherever he faces the subject, are clear, masterly and correct : 

 he makes three orders of the Passeres of Cuvier: — 1, the true Pas- 

 seres; i.e. the shrikes, tanagers, finches, crows, larks, wagtails, 

 warblers and sunbirds. 2, the birds which seize their prey on the 

 wing, and use their feet for resting only, not for terrestrial or arboreal 

 progression, as the goatsuckers, swallows, humming-birds, jacamars, 

 bee-eaters, trogons, kingfishers and hornbills ; and, lastly, the birds 

 which use the wings only for purposes of locomotion, and not when 

 taking food, which have grasping feet and strong legs, as the cuckoos, 

 the woodpeckers, the parrots, the Coliidoe, the touracous, the genus 

 Opisthocomus, the buccos and the toucans. The last group is indi- 

 cated by Cuvier's Grimpeurs, the preceding one by his Fissirostres ; 

 but that great author's exclusive dependence on the structure of beak 

 and toes rendered both these divisions incomplete and unnatural. 

 A far more intimate acquaintance than I possess with the Coliidae and 

 Opisthocomus is required before I can decide on the propriety of 

 combining them with the Grimpeurs. 



' Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society!' Parts II. and 

 I LI., dated June and November, 1856. Price 3s. each. London : 

 Longman & Co. 



The zoological papers in No. 2 are as follows : — 



' On the Natural History of the Glowworm (Lampyris noctiluca)! 

 By the late George Newport, Esq., F.L.S. 



' On the Quantity of Tannin in the Galls of Cynips Quercus-petioli.' 

 By Edward Hart Vinen, Esq., F.L.S. 



' Note on Lepidosiren annectens of Owen.' By Edward Newman, 

 Esq., F.L.S. 



' Description of a New Species of Paussus from Central Western 

 Africa.' By J. O. Westwood, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



' On the Influence of the Sexual Organ in Modifying External 

 Structure.' By William Yarrell, Esq., V.P.L.S., &c. 



