42 
REVIEWS. 
We turn with, pleasure from the foregoing to the important services 
rendered to natural science hy Sir Edward Belcher and M‘Clintock. 
Sir Edward has added largely to our knowledge of organic life in high 
northern latitudes, both recent and fossil, hy the collections he has 
brought home; the fossils of which are, we believe, deposited in the 
School of Mines, in Jermyn-street. 
His appendix contains a contribution on the forms of Ice Crystals, 
written by himself, and illustrated by four well-executed plates repre¬ 
senting the usual hexagonal forms of these bodies. This essay would 
he interesting, had he not taken care to discourage the reader at the 
outset hy such truisms as the following, the interest of which can¬ 
not extend beyond the circle of his own immediate friends and ad¬ 
mirers :— 
“ In several places in my narrative it may be noticed that I have exhibited a pecu¬ 
liar interest in the varied forms of snow crystals; possibly, to the minds of some, unable 
to appreciate the study of nature, deemed extravagant. Until that be proven, I am con¬ 
tent to abide all the infliction which such pointless weapons can inflict. My intercourse 
with the world convinces me that no energy of character can be expected where no steady, 
intelligent pursuit of some department of science is not followed with confidence as well 
as enthusiasm.” 
In mercy to the writer we omit the remainder of the passage, which 
relates, apropos des bottes, to “ Coal gas, that dreaded element of illumi¬ 
nation.” The description of the fish brought home from Wellington 
Sound was intrusted to Sir John Bichardson, and, as might he expected,, 
is of the highest interest. It is illustrated hy eight plates, which are 
chiefly those of new or rare species. 
The additions made by Sir Edward to the Molluscan Eauna are 
greater than might have been expected: out of forty-five species, twelve 
have not been hitherto described, hut three had been previously known 
as doubtful. The account of these Mollusca has been drawn up by Mr. 
Lovell Reeve, and we have well-executed figures of the new species. 
The Crustacea obtained were all dredged between Beechey Island 
and Northumberland Sound, generally in depths exceeding thirty 
fathoms, and have been described and catalogued by the first of British 
carcinologists, Professor Thomas Bell. One of these, a Cuma, is named 
after poor Groodsir ; two plates, executed by Mr. Westwood, and con¬ 
taining many elaborate anatomical details, accompany Mr. Bell’s descrip¬ 
tions. We may observe, that among the collections made by Captain 
MHlintock, two species described here, one of them for the first time, 
and the other for the first time correctly, i. e., Gaprella spinifera , and 
Acanthosoma hystrix, are very abundant. 
Numerous fossils of the Silurian and Carboniferous epochs were 
brought home by the several exploring expeditions. Of the Silurian 
forms upwards of thirty were described by Mr. Salter in Hr. Sutherland’s 
account of the voyage of the Lady Eranklin and Sophia; of these, eleven 
are considered by him identical with known species from Europe and 
America, 
