408' 
POPULAK SCIENCE EEYIEW. 
numerous^ it is true, "but then their size is ridiculously small, for so large' 
a hook. Just imagine a large 8vo. -work with illustrations of the salmon 
and cod which hardly exceed an inch in length, and of the seal and walrus 
which are almost smaller, if anything. To be sure the plates are hand- 
somely printed in Messrs. Spottiswoode’s best style, but then they have 
not the scientific importance which necessarily attaches to the purely 
zoological engravings. We regret this the more because, though the book 
is really full of interest, it is not of course a zoology, for the descriptions 
it gives are utterly unworthy of any scientific value ; but then they are 
most interesting and instructive, and in some cases are well nigh marvellous.' 
Withal, the book, though written by a German, is exceedingly well com- 
posed ,* indeed, in some of the passages, it is infinitely better written than 
nine-tenths of our English bookmakers could have done. We think, tooy 
the author has discharged the labour of bringing up the work to the present 
state of science with some degree of ability. His classification of the 
animals is in many cases in accordance with recent systems ; and we observe 
that he has quoted Darwin on points of importance, and where Darwin is 
really the most worthy authority ; as well as that he has endeavoured to 
give a portion of the recent writing on the subject of the deep-sea investi- 
gations of the “ Porcupine.” All this is right. The accounts, too, of the 
different animals are interspersed with anecdotes; and though some of them 
are hardly novel to the reader of this class of literature, they will all be 
nevertheless read with avidity and interest by the young. To our mind, 
the most exciting portion of the book is that which relates to the manifold 
excursions and the bitter sufierings of our noble Arctic explorers. This 
part of the work is exceedingly well written, and few can peruse the last 
pages, descriptive of the wondrous undertakings of Sir James Doss and 
Sir John Franklin, without a feeling of pride in the fact that those great 
men were also members of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
MERICA is far before us, if in no other at least in this respect, that she 
makes some governmental provision for a portion of her subjects. 
This is seen in the plan she has adopted in not a few of her States, of 
founding an appointment for the naturalist who has devoted his attention 
to entomology. And in doing so she shows her extreme wisdom as a 
student of. agriculture. For assuredly of all the plagues which the farmer 
has to encounter— especially in warm climates — that of insects is by no 
means the least. There are some insects which will, even in this country, 
so completely destroy a crop in its infancy as to compel it to be sown again, 
and it is fortunate if indeed the destruction of the plants has not come too 
late to admit of re-plantation. There are few, even of our own farrders^ 
who have not occasionally lost an entire crop of turnips through the 
* Annual Report oq the Noxious, Beneficial, and other Insects of 
the State of Missouri, made to the State Board of Agriculture.” By Charles 
V. Riley, State Entomologist, Jefferson City, U.S. America, 1873, 
the INSECTS OF MISSOURI.* 
