114 
REVIEWS. 
A Familiar History of Birds. By the late Edward Stanley, H.D., 
F.R.8., Lord Bishop of Norwich. London: J. W. Parker. 1854. 
Sixth Edition. Price 3s. 
We are glad to see that this very pleasing little volume has met with the 
encouragement it so deservedly merits; while the price at which it has been 
published is so very moderate, as to place it within the reach of all. Its 
object is rather to furnish the reader with rational and interesting facts 
than to treat the subject of ornithology scientifically. But at a period 
when the education of every class of the community is rapidly improving, 
and when the minds of the rising generation are in a state of advancement 
fitting them for that more perfect knowledge, which in the preparation of 
elementary books ought to be always kept in view, it is of importance that 
even the simplest work should be arranged and founded, in some degree, on 
scientific principles. We accordingly find in the opening chapters some 
tables of classification carefully compiled from Cuvier and Dumeril, which 
will prove a great assistance to the young naturalist. And though its 
pages are not of a nature to attract those who have paid attention to orni¬ 
thology as a science, the very pleasing notes they contain on the habits of 
birds will render them a welcome companion during an idle hour. 
A History of British Ferns. By Edward Newman, Member of the 
Imperial L. C. Academy, F. L. and Z. S. President of the Ent. Soc., 
London, &c. 3rd edition. London: John Van Voorst. 1854. With 
Engravings. Price 18s. 
Of all Cryptogamic plants, perhaps, there are none so universally liked as 
the Acrogenic fern—from the lichen, that makes the ruined tower look 
so gray, so venerable, to the slime that on the stagnant pond charms 
the eye with its verdant greenness, there surely are none with which 
we are more familiar ; while living, graceful and attractive objects, and 
when raised, after the lapse of ages, from the stony tomb, still elegant, 
they lose but little of their beauty. They are 
“-- voices of the past, 
Links of a broken chain, 
Wings that bear one back to times 
That cannot come again.” 
Leaving the past for the present, we have in the volume now before us the 
history of those Ferns which inhabit Great Britain and Ireland, amply and 
faithfully recorded, and the knowledge acquired through many years’ study 
of Mr. Newman’s favourite plants, brought before us; so that though many 
