3 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 



" The text is both interesting and instructive. Many of the plates 

 have appeared before in Mr. Sowerby's works ; but from the great ex- 

 pense of collecting them, and the miscellaneous manner of their publica- 

 tion, many persons will, no doubt, gladly avail themselves of this select 

 and classified portion, which also contains many original figures. The 

 work, when completed, will form a valuable addition to our concho- 

 logical library." — Atkerusum. 



"Among the most laborious and successful labourers in this branch 

 of science, the public has to congratulate itself on the possession of 

 Mr. Reeve. His present work, of which the moiety is before us, is an 

 honourable proof of his devotedness and ability. To the execution of 

 the plan we have only to offer Mr. Reeve the tribute of our hearty ap- 

 probation ; and we look with interest to the termination of his second 

 volume, to conclude so valuable a contribution to science. It will be 

 found particularly so as affording enlarged means of comparison with 

 the products of fossil conchology. — Literary Gazette. 



"The progress of the natural sciences is marked by the labours of 

 two distinct classes of men : the first includes those who are most 

 athirst for novelty, — who bustle about with enthusiasm and zeal, and 

 register a new fact with the mighty ambition of being the first to record 

 it : the second includes those who, profiting by the labours of the first, 

 sit down soberly to systematize, caring little for priority ; who handle 

 the recorded facts with the most prodigious caution ; and, by weighing 

 one against the other, are enabled to judge of their merits and defects 

 before they determine the rank and position which each should hold in 

 the system. To the first of these divisions, in that branch of science to 

 which our attention is now directed, belong Adanson, Miiller, Sowerby, 

 Lesson, Quoy, Broderip, Gray, &c: to the second, Linnseus, Cuvier, 

 De Blainville, Deshayes, and lastly, the author of the ' Conchologia 

 Systematica.' Mr. Reeve, indeed, appears to be the first English author 

 who has successfully accomplished the very difficult task of classifying 

 the testaceous mollusks according to the true nature of their organiza- 

 tion and habits. It must not, however, be supposed that we would 

 disparage the labours of this first-named division of writers, for verily 

 either is the support of the other ; we are only impressed with the im- 

 portance of those of the latter, because the scattered records of dis- 

 covery, which would otherwise be of none effect, are presented to the 

 senses in a form by which all may profit. We are especially pleased 

 with the progress of Mr. Reeve's ' Conchology ;' nothing that is worth 

 noting seems to have escaped him. The plan which he is carrying out 

 in his arrangement of the molluscous division of the animal kingdom 

 appears, as far as we are enabled to judge, to be a well-directed, con- 



