Notices of New Books. 



7S75 



will be the admiration of all entomologists, whether of the present or 

 future generations, whose approbation is worthy of being earned. 



Edward Newman. 



' Tabular View of the Primary Divisions of the Animal Kingdom : 

 intended to serve as an Outline of an Elementary Course 

 of Recent Zoology (Cainozoology), or the Natural History of 

 Existing Animals." By Robert E. Grant, M.D. London : 

 Walton and Maberly. 1861. 



The Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in University 

 College, London, in sending a copy of this little work to the editor of 

 the 6 Zoologist,' seems to challenge that fair and conscientious criti- 

 cism which it is the custom of the said editor to mete out with impartial 

 pen to all who invite it. Taking this view of the subject I cannot in 

 courtesy decline the task of reading and publicly noticing this very 

 faint outline of an elementary course of lectures delivered in Univer- 

 sity College by a Professor of thirty-four years standing, Dr. Grant 

 having received his appointment in 1827. 



In perusing these pages the first thing that attracts my notice is 

 their inflated style ; the second the substitution of new names, with 

 Grant as the authority, for old names with Cuvier, &c, as the authority ; 

 the third is the apparent inattention to, I scarcely presume to say igno- 

 rance of, the discoveries and improvements of the last quarter of a 

 century ; and the fourth is the apparently crude and unsatisfactory 

 manner in which groups are either associated or divided. I proceed 

 to give illustrations. 



First, of the inflated style. " With one fell swoop of the wand of 

 truth, you have now scattered to the winds the pestilential vapours 

 accumulated by species-mongers over every step of this ever-varying, 

 ever-charming part of Nature's works ; and your next movement will 

 dispel the remaining clouds of mystical supernatural typical intrusions 

 which still hang on the horizon of the sublime prospect, now opening 

 to the view, of the natural animalization of the orbs of space by the 

 same simple laws which govern the physical and chemical phenomena 

 with such wondrous harmony throughout the rest of the material uni- 

 verse." This rhodomontade is addressed to Mr. Darwin, and doubtless 

 has some occult reference to that great naturalist's work on the ' Origin 

 of Species,' but its meaning is entirely obscured by the multiplicity 

 of inappropriate words. 



