Encyclopaedia Britannica. 561 



with those minute details (drawn by the authors themselves,) for 

 which the German naturalists are celebrated. The present fascicu- 

 lus contains the Phascace^e and BdXBAUMiACii^E. The second 

 and third fasciculi, containing the Okthotrichace.e, illustrated 

 with twenty plates, are probably already published. Each mono- 

 graph is perfect in itself, and may be purchased separately. We re- 

 commend the work to the attention of all inuscologists. 



Encyclopaedia Britannica, Edited by Professor Napier. 4to. Black 

 and Co. Edinburgh. Article Mammalia,, &c. 

 Though an Encyclopaedia scarcely comes under the range of a 

 Magazine devoted to Zoology and Botany, yet works of this kind 

 often contain so much information on physical science, and have held 

 such an important station in the literature of almost all countries, 

 that we think ourselves bound to direct attention to the articles 

 devoted to natural history, and more particularly as these can now 

 be obtained bound up apart from the great work itself. The Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica is now in the course of publication by an enter- 

 prising Edinburgh bookseller, having the various departments, in- 

 dependent of the superintendence of an enlightened general editor, 

 placed under the charge of men whose names are a guarantee for the 

 accuracy and merit of the essays which fall under their review. 

 The zoological department has been entrusted to Mr James Wilson, 

 author of the " Illustrations of Zoology ;" and there has already ap- 

 peared, in addition to shorter and less important articles, Entomo- 

 logy, Ichthyology, and Mammalia. The first, being the favourite 

 pursuit of its author, has perhaps had the most pains bestowed upon 

 it, and forms an excellent introductory treatise on this branch, oc- 

 cupying a complete half volume. Ichthyology runs through nearly 

 a hundred pages; and the last article, Mammalia, occupying a hundred 

 and twenty pages, forms a good and concise exposition of the Cu- 

 vierian system, which has been adopted in both the latter branches, 

 " rather than that of any more modern, or it may be amended 

 classification," which from " critical asperities have scarcely in them- 

 selves subsided into a lucid or tranquil element of science."* Most 

 of the latest discoveries have been introduced in their proper places, 

 and the treaiise will be found to contain a summary of what was 

 known up to the date of publication. The engravings, generally 

 copies from the standard illustrated works, both British and foreign, 

 are well executed, and in the three departments, amount to forty- 

 eight in number.f 



* Mammalia, pages 84 and 88- 



f Mammalia 17, Ichthyology 11, Entomology 20. 



