5342 Notices of New Books. 



mortal polyp : ergo, the grandiloquent passage, of which the mere 

 peroration is cited above, is as inapplicable to the real state of the 

 case as it is out of place in a work professing to teach Natural 

 History. 



These errors of judgment, the introduction of the too abstruse and 

 the too grand, are the more to be regretted, because the little book is 

 conceived in a happy vein, and produced under every advantage of 

 circumstance. The "table of contents" speaks for itself: here 

 it-is — 



" Introduction. Chapter T. What is a Sea-Anemone ? II. Where 

 is it to be found ? HI. What is its name ? IV. How can I keep it 

 alive? V. What will it do when I have got it? VI. Supplementary 

 and Critical : On the Distinctions of Genera and Species. Ap- 

 pendix I. Specimen of a Naturalist's Diary. II. Habitats of Actiniae. 

 HI. Glossary of Hard Words." 



This is not only attractive in the letter, but is carried out in the 

 spirit to a certain degree. There is only the want of a little 

 "judgmatical" pruning and arrangement; the too learned, the too 

 familiar, the too grand, should be carefully cut away, and much more 

 of the descriptive and practical might be advantageously introduced. 

 The appearance of the book is faultless, and the plates, excepting the 

 frontispiece, are very beautiful. Even the exception of the frontis- 

 piece may perhaps be unnecessary, by showing that it represents a 

 species with which we, the reviewer, are unacquainted ; but it un- 

 fortunately bears the name of the most familiar and most elegant of 

 all the tribe, Actinia Dianthus, and to this it has no resemblance : the 

 name of Dianthus is, in all probability, generally applied in error; 

 but, if so, the species bearing that name should also have been 

 figured : what can be more exquisitely beautiful than the undulating 

 outline of its fringe of tentacles in the Dianthus commonly so 

 called ? 



May the reviewer be allowed to recommend to the author a careful 

 perusal of Kirby and Spence's ' Introduction to Entomology ;' by the 

 time he has mastered that model of Introductions a second edition of 

 the 'Manual' will doubtless be required, and it may be greatly im- 

 proved by some assimilation to that most learned, most unassuming, 

 most fascinating volume. The author of the 'Manual' has chosen a 

 capital subject, and the best time for its publication ; he has, 

 moreover, the advantage of being assisted by the pencil of a well- 



