68 
REVIEWS. 
embrace more and more the orders which, possessing less of the charms of 
colour to ingratiate them, have been, till of late, much neglected ; and that 
the study is gradually assuming more of a scientific character. These vo¬ 
lumes are intended to meet the avowed necessity of smoothing the way for 
beginners, and thus gaining friends for the science, by providing means of 
getting more easily at the characters, and hence at the names, of the species; 
so that, this first step surmounted, the taste and capacity for a deeper sci¬ 
entific study may have room to develope itself. This view appears so rea¬ 
sonable that we cannot conceive how the study of the Diptera should 
become popular until collectors are enabled to determine their species with 
much greater ease and certainty than has been hitherto possible. Accor¬ 
dingly, we have taken up this work of Mr. Walker’s with cordial plea¬ 
sure, and with the hope that it may give an energetic impulse to the study 
of the Diptera. Yet it has not been without hesitation that we have com¬ 
plied with the request of the editors, by attempting a review of it in the 
pages of this journal. The Diptera of Europe are as yet so imperfectly 
known, that in respect to them the object which Mr. Walker has proposed 
to himself is not only very difficult, but absolutely unattainable in any de¬ 
gree corresponding to the actual state of our knowledge of some of the other 
orders. While, therefore, we freely give him credit for what he has effected 
in more than one point of view, there must be, at the same time, many defects 
to remark. Now, in particularising these, as we are bound to do, we may 
give occasion for a completely false impression, as if we were seeking only 
to find out faults in his work, when it is our real desire to recommend it 
very emphatically. It will give us the greatest pleasure to see a new edition 
soon rendered necessary by the general and diligent use of the present one. 
That will not only afford a gratifying proof of the diffusion of a lively interest 
in Natural History, but will also tend to advance the work towards that degree 
of perfection which can only be reached by repeated trials, and by the help 
of additions and improvements, the product of the collective experience and 
study of many. We would venture to hope that when a second edition 
comes to be prepared, many of our remarks, which at present may wear the 
semblance of censures merely, will appear in their true light, as a modest 
contribution to the completion of a work to which we heartily wish the most 
eminent success; but which, as an attempt at a very difficult object, can¬ 
not but labour under considerable defects, in spite of all the pains that have 
been taken with it. 
In order to have a proper rule by which to judge of Mr. Walker’s book, 
it seems necessary to lay down some of the conditions which we have a 
