16 
REVIEWS. 
There are, we know, many who, though taking a great interest in u Fern 
culture,” never think of growing any of the Equisetacese. Now, we would 
recommend such to take this work of Mr. Sowerby’s ; and on reading the 
very interesting histories given by Mr. Johnson (Mr. Sowerby’s able coad¬ 
jutor), we are sure they will be tempted to grow several of the species of 
Equisetum ; and, if they do, we promise them that they will be amply 
repaid for all them trouble. 
The Entomologists’ Annual for MDCCCLVI. With a Coloured Plate. 
London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster-row. 1856. Price half-a 
crown. 
It gives us much pleasure to be able, thus early, to introduce to our readers 
our promising contemporary, the Editor having, with more than punctua¬ 
lity, issued it on the 15th December. We have cast no careless glance 
over its contents, nor looked through its pages with the indifference of a 
general reviewer; neither have we retired to the gloomy recesses of a 
metropolitan house of business, there to jot down each point of special 
notice with the rigid austerity that would befit an East India merchant. 
No! But we have read the Annual, as we whirled through hills and 
dales, in a railway journey to a distant shire ; and we have considered it 
in our lonely walk on a dusky, warm December afternoon, by still water- 
dykes and leafless hedgerows, when the Cheimatobise, and a few smaller 
moths yet unaffected by the cold, over and again flitted before or beside 
us, reviving all our summer propensity to seize the reluctant hat and im¬ 
prison the unsuspecting insect. We shall give briefly but (it is hoped) 
pertinently the result of our musings. 
A great advance has been made since the second edition of last year. 
The orders Coleoptera and Hymenoptera have received a fair proportion 
of attention ; and many useful gleanings of information on various subjects 
have been added, some of which are from the pens of new contributors. 
The lists of British entomologists, and of entomological works, British and 
foreign, are calculated to be of great use ; and we deem it right to mention 
that, through the Editor’s diligent care, the consent of every single indi¬ 
vidual enumerated in the former was obtained before his name appeared 
in print. Much, however, as has been done to improve the Annual, there 
is still room for abundant exertion; albeit the form may be pretty well 
developed (to use the Editor’s own expression), it does not seem to us 
by any means consolidated yet. There is a want of systematic distribu- 
