REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
279 
and simple test, for distinguishing the substance, which is as follows :—Take a 
specimen and rub it on a piece of cloth, so as to excite its latent electricity, upon 
which it emits a powerful odour, somewhat resembling Camphor. This will be 
found a more complete test than that mentioned by Mr. Levison. —If you will 
insert this I shall feel much obliged.—A Mineralogist, 41, Strand, London, 
Juhj 14, 1837. 
Insects in Copal. —When in London, a few days since, I called at most of 
the institutions, and found them in a flourishing state. I also visited many pri¬ 
vate collections of Natural History. It would be occupying too much of your 
time to make particular mention of them, but I cannot resist describing a few of 
the things I saw. In a shop in the Strand, nearly opposite Chandos Street, 
there are a number of specimens of Copal containing insects. Moths, Spiders, 
and Ants are enclosed within this transparent yellow substance,—forming a beau¬ 
tiful contrast to the tombs which usually receive the inanimate bodies of all 
things which have lived and moved. Instead of the gloom which surrounds the 
last habitations of animated beings, here was brightness, and, instead of being 
loathsome to look upon, there was something to admire and covet. There was 
one thing which particularly struck me, namely, that the Moths, Spiders, and 
Ants, although “ quietly inurned ” in their present magnificent sepulchres for 
centuries, retain their forms and palpaUeness, and seem as if they were but the 
other day doomed to be incarcerated in their present resinous receptacles. How 
insignificant and bungling seem the vain efforts of man to embalm and preserve 
the frail corpse of some departed friend, by saturating it in hitumen, and by 
folding it in numerous filaments saturated with essential oils, as compared to 
this manner of preserving animal bodies in a transparent, imperishable, and, when 
polished, elegant substance ! 0 Nature, thou art profound and perfect, even in 
what may appear fanciful in thy works !—J. L. Levison, Doncaster, July 20,1837- 
REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
- A History of British Birds, indigenous and migratory : including their or¬ 
ganization, habits, and relations; remarks on classification and nomenclature; 
an account of the principal organs of birds, and observations relative to Practical 
Ornithology. Illustrated by numerous engravings. By William MacGillivray, 
A.M., F.R.S.E., M.W.S., &c., &c., &c. Vol. I. Easores, Scrapers, or Gallina¬ 
ceous Birds; Gemitores, Cooers or Pigeons ; Degluhitores, Huskers, or Coniros- 
tral Birds ; Vagatores, Wanderers, or Crows and allied genera. London: Scott, 
Webster, and Geaiy. 1837. 8vo. pp. 631. 
