REVIEWS. 
177 
securing accurate representations of those animals which readily undergo 
important changes after death, even when preserved in spirit, many draw- 
ings and descriptions have been made from fresh or living specimens as 
opportunities occurred ; and from these and other materials it is proposed to 
publish from time to time 11 decades ” of plates, with descriptive letterpress, 
but in no particular order, to be supplemented by a final systematic volume 
for each class so soon as the investigation of its members inhabiting the 
region can be approximately completed. 
The first of these decades is now before us, and we must congratulate 
Prof. McCoy upon the commencement of what will evidently be a work of 
great importance, not only in the colony, but to naturalists in all parts of the 
world. Poisonous snakes are so rife in Australia, and the means of distin- 
guishing them a matter of so much interest to the colonists, that we do 
not wonder to find the first three plates in this decade occupied by species of 
Elapidse, which appear to rival their dreaded relative, the Indian cobra, in 
the virulence of their venom. Three more plates are devoted to marine 
fishes, namely, a sea bream ( Chrysophrys australis) and two fine species of 
gurnards. One of the latter (Lepidotrigla vanessa ), here correctly figured for 
the first time, is very beautifully coloured. The seventh plate represents a 
“giant earthworm” ( Megascolides australis ), which is said to reach a length 
of six feet when extended to the utmost. It agrees in its general character 
and habits with the species with which we are sufficiently familiar in this 
country. On the eighth plate we find representations of three species of 
moths of the genus Agarista, in all stages of growth. These figures are of 
special importance in the colony, as one of these moths, although a native of 
Australia, has taken to feed on the introduced grape-vines with such avidity 
as to cause very considerable damage. Plates 9 and 10 show two butterflies 
of the genus Pieris, with their transformations. Full descriptions of all the 
species are given, accompanied by a few remarks on the natural history of 
the animals. 
Of the plates we must speak in high terms of praise. The figures of the 
animals are well drawn, and printed in colours in a style which may well 
excite our wonder that such work can be turned out in a place which was a 
howling wilderness not fifty years ago. Each plate bears, besides the prin- 
cipal figure or figures, representations in outline or otherwise of those details 
which are of most importance for the determination of the species, and alto- 
gether Prof. McCoy and his assistants have evidently done their best to 
make the work a most valuable one. That they have been remarkably suc- 
cessful so far we need hardly say, but it is a question whether any of us will 
live to witness the completion of the work, if the entire Fauna of Victoria is 
to be illustrated in a similar fashion. 
PRACTICAL GEOLOGY.* 
U NDER the title of “ Practical Geology,” Mr. Harrison has added another 
work to the list of smaller manuals of geological science, one of the 
* “ Practical Geology.” By W. J. Harrison, F.G.S. Sm. 8vo. London: 
W. Stewart & Co. 1878. 
NEW SERIES, VOL. III., NO. X. 
N 
