7c 



Miscellaneous. 



the banks of the Guldelf, it was towards the 20th of September in 

 the condition in which it is seen with us during the last weeks of 

 October ; lastly, in Dovrefjeld, at a height of 3000 feet above the 

 level of the sea, it looked on the 22nd of September such as it ap- 

 pears in Sologne towards the middle of December*. — Ann. des Sc. 

 Naturelles, Dec. 1841. 



ZOOLOGICAL WORKS PUBLISHED UNDER GOVERNMENT PATRONAGE. 



In no one particular do we find the great distinction between En- 

 gland and the continental nations more strikingly illustrated than in 

 the publication of works of science, and particularly upon Natural 

 History. In England all our finest works have been produced either 

 at the cost of individuals, whose purse-strings have been opened with 

 a liberal hand by their zeal for the science — witness Mr. Lambert's 

 magnificent work on the genus Pinus, the Lepidoptera of Georgia of 

 Abbot and Smith, the Exotic Insects of Drury, the Malacostraca Po- 

 dophthalma of Dr. Leach t — or by the spirited exertions of publishers, 

 as in the case of the translation of the Animal Kingdom by Griffith, 

 the splendid works on Ornithology by Mr. Gould, or the works on 

 British Entomology by Messrs. Curtis and Stephens. With very 

 few exceptions Government has afforded no assistance to the publi- 

 cation of such works. On the continent, however, the case is en- 

 tirely reversed, the finest works having been produced under the 

 auspices of the respective governments of the countries in which 

 they have been published. 



That the direction unquestionably given to the public mind in such 

 countries by the course of public education, must have a material 

 effect in producing such a result, is unquestionable ; nor can we ex- 

 pect that the case will be altered here until physical science in ge- 

 neral, including Natural History as a necessary branch, is fostered 

 by the State for her own sake, independent of the shop-keeping spi- 

 rit of the country, and is insisted upon as a branch of public educa- 

 tion as material as the Classics, Mathematics, &c. % 



* For particulars of the vegetation of Norway, botanists will do well to 

 consult the catalogue of plants which Mr. Blytt, Professor of Botany at 

 Christiania, has collected on his journeys, a very rare work, a copy of which 

 was sent to the persons who were engaged in the expedition of the 1 Re- 

 cherche.' 



[f To these add Dr. Sibthorpe's Flora Graeca. — Ed.] 



J Since the publication of the last number of this work I have had the 

 pleasure of visiting Oxford, in company with Professor Burmeister; but how 

 can I explain the mingled feelings I experienced at being compelled to an- 

 swer his question, " Who is the Professor of Zoology here ?" by informing 

 him that there was no such Professorship in this, the most magnificent Uni- 

 versity in the world — in more forcible language than was employed by Mr. 

 MacLeay upon this very subject twenty years ago ? 



" Unfortunately in those classic scenes, which derive no small portion of 

 their fame from a Ray and a Lister, the existence of zoology as a science is 

 in these days scarcely suspected. Well may the foreigner, who beholds our 

 learned establishments so splendidly endowed, note, among the most re- 

 markable circumstances attending them, that in none whatever should there 

 be a zoological chair. It is not for me to enter into the causes of this, else it 



