176 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



one; his tail, however, was of so enormous a length, that he at 

 first took it for a flock of small birds flying after him ; he, who 

 is a grave-thinking man, and is not at all given to telling wonder- 

 ful stories, says he judged it to be yards in length." 



The ethnological information is most valuable, and supple- 

 ments the observations of Cook and Forster. It seems insep- 

 arable to some expeditions that native life must be sacrificed, but 

 it is not condoned in these pages ; in fact, we are inclined to take 

 leave of Banks by quoting some reflections that bespeak the 

 nature of his mind and heart. Some New Zealand natives had 

 been killed, and his journal for that day concludes: — " Thus 

 ended the most disagreeable day my life has yet seen ; black be 

 the mark for it, and heaven send that such may never return to 

 embitter future reflection." The portraits of Banks and Solander, 

 in the possession of the Royal and Linnean Societies, are admi- 

 rably produced by photography in this volume. 



A Sketch of the Natural History of Australia. By Frederick 

 G. Aflalo, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., &c. Macmillan & Co. 1806. 



If the ordinary traveller to a foreign land seeks a guide- 

 book, or attempts by reading to obtain some idea of the salient 

 features of the country he is about to visit, how much more 

 necessary is it for the untrained zoologist to obtain at least a 

 little information as to the animal life with which he hopes to 

 become familiar. This, in a condensed form, is not at all common 

 literature, and perhaps Tennent's ' Sketches of the Natural 

 History of Ceylon ' is a type of the book to which we refer, an 

 introduction not a monograph ; a general sketch of a fauna from 

 which may be gathered its principal peculiarities, and a glimpse 

 obtained of what may be expected to accrue in one's own special 

 studies and pursuits. Such an inception has apparently guided 

 Mr. Aflalo to his task, and he has succeeded in producing a 

 primer to the Zoology of Australia. 



And what a wonderful fauna it is ! As Wallace has well 

 remarked, ''Australia stands alone." It is not more remarkable 

 in the marsupials it so abundantly possesses, than equally dis- 

 tinguished by its complete poverty in many well-known forms. 





