PISCES. 
135 
The History of the Fishes of the British Islands. By Jonathan 
Couch. London^ 8vo. 
The book before ns embraces the observations of a man who 
commenced his ichthyological studies as early as Yarrell, who 
himself, as is well known_, has drawn largely from the experience 
of Mr. Couch. Therefore we might well expect to find a great 
deal of useful information in it ; and indeed it gives us a most 
complete account of the life and habits of British fishes, espe- 
cially of those observed by the author on the Cornish coast. 
Mr. Couch has carried on his researches in the field, and has 
not followed the strict technical method of distinguishing species ; 
but he has at the same time not neglected scientific sources of 
information, thus producing a most useful and instructive book, 
which may be easily read and understood by every lover of 
natural liistory. He has introduced the latest additions to the 
British Fauna; and as, moreover, he is not inclined to drop 
species which have been proved to be nominal, the number of 
British species has been considerably increased. Nearly all are 
illustrated by coloured plates, which, however, are inferior to 
those given by Bloch and Donovan. Up to the present time 
three volumes have been published : — 
Vol. I. contains the Chondropterygians, Percoids, and Spa- 
roids. 1863, pp. 245, with 57 plates. 
Vol. II. contains Trigloids, Trachinoids, Sciaenoids, Scom- 
broids, Gobioids, Blennioids, and Trachypteroids. 1863, pp. 265, 
with 63 plates. 
Vol. III. contains, the remainder of Acanthopterygians, 
Pharyngognaths, and Anacanthines. 1864, pp. 208, with 48 
plates. 
B. Separate Publications. 
Jeitteles, L. H. Die Fische der March bei Olmiitz. Jahres- 
bericht des Olmiitzer K. K. Gj^mnasiums fiir 1863 (part 1) 
and 1864 (part 2), pp. 59. 
The author has described in this ably written memoir 38 
species occurring in the river March near Olmiitz. By a 
careful examination and comparison of his specimens with the 
descriptions of the same species from other localities, Hr. 
Jeitteles has been enabled to add some valuable notes on those 
characters which ought to be more particularly attended to, on 
account of the variations to which they are subject. He con- 
cludes his paper with some interesting general remarks : it would 
appear that the March, when compared with other tributaries of 
European rivers, is very rich in species, being surpassed in this 
respect by the Theiss only. Chondrostoma nasus, Abramis vimba, 
and Squalius cephalus are the species most common in this 
river, forming about 30 per cent, of all its fishes ; Leuciscus 
