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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the Upper Tertiaries of the West (Mammals, Ohelonians, and Fishes), on. 
New Saurians from the Trias of Pennsylvania, and on the Vertebrata of the 
Dakota epoch of Colorado. In the first the most interesting species noticed 
are Pithecistes brevifacies, a monkey? and Tetralophodon campestre, the 
latter the second North American species of its genus. The Triassic 
Saurians include new species of Thecondotosaurus and Palceosciurus and 
S 'uchoprion aulacodus, Cope ; and the third paper contains descriptions of 
Camarasaui'us mpremus, Amphicodius cdtus and latus (the latter two reprinted 
from No. 27!), Symphyrophus musculosus and Caulodonleptoganus, with notices- 
of some other species. 
WHITE’S SELBORNE.* 
W HAT is the source of the perennial charm that seems to invest Gilbert 
White’s “ Natural History of Selborne ? ” a book which can probably 
count more editions, or rather reprints, than any other original work, not 
purely of literary interest, except perhaps Walton’s “ Complete Angler.” It 
is evidently not solely for the sake of the natural history observations con- 
tained in it that this book has been the delight of old and young ever since 
its appearance ; for, valuable as White’s observations are, the student may 
get most of them in a more systematic form, and combined with those of 
other naturalists in the various books upon special departments of British 
zoology, which have appeared of late years. We must seek elsewhere for 
the cause of the continued popularity of the “ Natural History of Selborne,” 
which it seems to us is to be found rather in the mode in which the various 
subjects treated of are presented to the reader, than in the intrinsic value, 
great as this may be, of the materials of which it is composed. 
In fact, as in the case of Walton’s “ Angler,” already referred to, although 
not to the same extent, it is the workmanship that gives much of its value to 
the author’s production. Thousands have read Izaak Walton's book who 
never intended to wet a line ; and in like manner, thousands have read the 
“Natural History of Selborne ” without feeling any particular interest in its 
natural history, or desire to be converted into naturalists by its perusal. The 
source of the popularity of the book is to be found in the charming manner 
in which the author has given the results of his observations on the objects 
surrounding him, and in the genial humour which breaks out from time to 
time and illuminates his pages. 
In thus maintaining that it is chiefly as a literary performance, as the 
work of a man of genius, that White’s “ Selborne ” has retained its hold 
upon the British public, we would not be understood to speak slightingly of 
its merits as a natural-history book. On the contrary, so admirably careful 
was White in all his researches, so open was his mind to the reception of all 
opinions connected with his favourite studies, and so enthusiastic was he in 
their prosecution, that even in this respect his book may be held up as a 
* “ The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the county of 
Southampton.” By the late Rev. Gilbert White, formerly Fellow of Oriel 
College, Oxford. Edited by Thomas Bell, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., Pro- 
fessor of Zoology in King’s College, London. 2 vols. 8vo. London : Van 
Voorst. 1877. 
