PREFACE. Vll 



of a work on Nudibranchiate Mollusca, which is highly creditable 

 to the authors, Messrs. Alder and Hancock; also a translation of 

 of Steenstrup's clever, but somewhat hypothetical essay on the 

 " Alternation of Generations." The other publications are valueless. 

 A thick volume called "Reports on the progress of Zoology and 

 Botany " is worse than valueless : it contains a variety of strictures 

 on British Naturalists, written in the most objectionable spirit, and 

 many of them totally unsupported by fact. A writer in the 

 ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' says that these stric- 

 tures were supplied from England, and, indeed they bear much 

 internal evidence of this. If it be so, the transaction is alike dis- 

 creditable to the writer, to Erichson who suffers his name to 

 be printed as the author, and to the Ray Society, which gives 

 such statements to the world. 



The British Association met as usual ; the only paper that 

 appears of much zoological interest, was by Mr Black wall, on 

 the migratory birds in his own neighbourhood, and I regret to 

 record, that this was objected to, as useless; there was also an 

 anatomical paper by Professor Owen on the skull; a paper by 

 Professor Allman on Cristatella mucedo ; and several others on 

 Mollusca and Radiata. Except, inasmuch, as this association 

 affords the opportunity for social intercourse among men of sci- 

 ence, and may thus give additional zest to the respective studies, 

 I feel quite at a loss to imagine its utility. Whether science 

 is served by their gastronomical doings seems problematical. 



In Quadrupeds, a most remarkable discovery has lately been 

 made in Ireland, by Messrs. Glennon and Nolan, of Dublin, the 

 former of whom has kindly forwarded to me a MS. account of 

 the particulars, and the latter has most obligingly communicated 

 them by word of mouth, and allowed me to make a careful 

 examination of the specimens. The facts are briefly these : the 

 above-named gentlemen have discovered at Lough Gur, a small 

 lake, situated near Limerick, a vast quantity of bones, which ap- 



