REVIEWS. 
27 
distinctive modes of life, and displaying plumage from the purest white 
to hues that seem borrowed from the rainbow. The book has one disad¬ 
vantage to a man whose time is limited—once he takes it up it is difficult 
to lay down. He delays—to read one page more, and then another. He 
finds the information brought forward with such brevity that not a 
sentence could be omitted without injury; and as the sources from which 
the information is derived are, in many cases, not generally accessible, or 
known beyond the circle of the wealthy or the scientific, much of it comes 
before him with the charm of novelty added to that of truth. We have 
marked many attractive.passages, but cannot find space for their insertion. 
The volume of British Zoophytes, by the late Rev. Dr, Landsborough, 
bears the unmistakeable evidence of its paternity—his lineaments are on 
every feature. The book is his book. We have all that the naturalist 
requires as to classification, definition of orders, ' genera, and species, 
distribution round the coast, and other particulars. But in addition to 
this—and herein consists the peculiar charm of the volume—we have 
mention of his friends, of his excursions, of his feelings, his opinions, his 
religious convictions, and a store of pleasant observations and reminiscences. 
He writes just as he would have talked ; and as we read we seem to have 
before us the benevolent, genial-minded man, delighting to acknowledge 
the aid derived from others ; active and zealous in the discharge of all his 
duties as a Christian minister, yet finding time to prosecute his researches 
as a naturalist, and to write some of the most attractive volumes that we 
have read. He has passed away from the scene of his earthly labours; 
and if it be permitted in another and higher state of existence to look on 
some of the lowly works of creation which had here been the objects of 
admiration and study, sure we are that the spirit of that Scottish pastor 
would rejoice to find that those who are yet young in years were looking 
on what he had described with the devotional feeling he was ever anxious 
to inculcate; and as they progressed in the knowledge of this branch of 
“ Popular Zoology,” that they were led to exclaim in all sincerity, “ Oh 
Lord! how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all” 
March Winds and April Showers : being Notes and Notions on a few Cre¬ 
ated Things. By “Acheta.” London: Lovell Reeve, 1854. 8vo. Price 5s, 
May Flowers : being Notes and Notions on a few Created Things. By 
“ Acheta.” London: Lovell Reeve, 1855. 8vo. Price 5s. 
We have been somewhat remiss in calling our readers’ attention to these two 
charming volumes ; but we now hope to make amends both to them and 
to their author. Acheta is already known to us by the a Episodes of Insect 
