Classification of Animals. 551 
the other continents, are very few ; he therefore contemplates them 
as the bond of union wherein the three great Faunas of Europe, 
Asia, and America meet, and are united together." In the five suc- 
ceeding chapters he enters into a minute and detailed account of the 
zoological productions of each province, showing the peculiar forms 
by which they are characterized. This is carefully and ably executed, 
and indicates the comprehensive arid intimate acquaintance the 
author possesses of his subject. At the end of each chapter, lists of 
the genera and subgenera of the animals and birds of each province 
are given, and numerous illustrations, beautifully drawn and execut- 
ed, taken from the various departments of the science, bring for- 
cibly before the reader the forms peculiar to and characteristic of 
each geographical division. In conclusion, he adds, " we consider 
that the facts now stated are sufficiently strong to establish the pro- 
positions with which this investigation was commenced. We have 
seen 1st, that animals are distributed upon a plan sufficiently ob- 
vious in its leading outlines to be comprehended and defined; and 
2d, that this plan is found to harmonize in many remarkable ways, 
with that circular disposition, which is the first law of natural clas- 
sification." 
The rise and progress of Systematic Zoology occupies the second 
portion of the volume, the first chapter of which, after some preli- 
minary observations upon the terms, system, and method, which, al- 
though by some considered as conveying a different signification, he 
shows must be taken as synonymous, is chiefly occupied in tracing 
the distinction between an artificial and a natural system, and the 
essential requisites which must belong to the latter. The whole of 
this chapter possesses great interest, and requires an attentive pe- 
rusal. In the next an exposition of a few of the principal artificial 
systems is given, comprising those of Aristotle, Willughby, Lin- 
naeus, and Cuvier ; of the two last as embracing the whole of the 
animal kingdom from the highest to the lowest groups, he enters 
into a detailed and minute examination, and, upon the whole, we 
consider his estimate of the merits of these systems correctly drawn, 
agreeing with him, that, as an artificial system, the Linnaean is best 
calculated, from the simplicity of its arrangement and the precision 
of its nomenclature, to effect the object it had in view, viz. the easy 
discrimination of a species without further reference to its station 
in the scale of being, or the analogies by which it is represented. 
We do not, however, think that ample justice has been done to the 
labours of Cuvier, for, though the Regne Animal has not proved to 
be a natural arrangement, and as an artificial one it may in some re- 
