Fauna Italica. 83 
gave the " Spechio Comparativo," a little comparative sketch of the 
birds of Rome with those of North America, to which a supplement 
was added. Subsequently, a system of classification of the animal 
kingdom, with remarks on that of Cuvier, and some minor opusculi, 
were printed at Rome, but we believe these works were principally, 
if not wholly, intended for private distribution amongst his friends. 
In the winter of 1832-33, the present more serious undertaking 
was commenced. It consists of a selection of the new or remarkable 
species in the Mammalia, birds, fishes, and reptiles, of Italy and the 
adjacent countries, which are given in coloured lithography, with 
descriptions in the vernacular idiom. The work may be classed 
amongst those ({ of luxury," in the phrase of our neighbours. The 
size is folio, the printing admirable, and reflects the more credit on 
the Roman typography, that it is the first attempt on that scale and 
subject. The policy of the Papal government has always been to 
discourage printing, and in consequence, the profits of an art which 
would appear to be particularly suited to the place, have been aban- 
doned to the Tuscans and Lombards, who have almost monopolized 
the printing even of the standard classic works, to which no inqui- 
sitorial objection could be made, whilst the public press of Rome 
has been chiefly employed in the most common-place work of mis- 
sals or breviaries, more for the use of the strangers than of the 
natives, for whom a very small supply of these articles is sufficient. 
The editing a work of this sort, and passing it through the hands of 
such assistants, is of course considerable, and enhances the interest 
of it. The same remark applies to the designs, which were executed 
under the personal inspection of the Prince ; and his draftsmen mak- 
ing their first essay in this work, and his villa, (which formerly be- 
longed to Paulina, the Princess Borghese, and is situated just with- 
in the walls,) when his assistants were at work resembled a small 
academy. The fish and reptiles are the best executed, the quadru- 
peds are good, the birds perhaps the most defective, clearly owing 
to the difficulty, even to the experienced hand and eye, of seizing 
and embodying the graceful, lively, and ever-changing attitudes of 
the feathered part of the creation. The style is excellent, the clear- 
ness and ductility, as well as extreme conciseness of the Italian, 
adapting it singularly to the uses of natural history. 
The work commences with a plate and description of the common 
fox of Rome and the vicinity, which the Prince has made out to 
differ from the Canis vulpes, the inhabitant of our own islands, 
and of the centre and north of Europe, and to which he has given 
the name of Canis melanogaster. The chief organic difference ap- 
