84 
HE VIEWS. 
Handbook of Zoology. By J. Yan der Hoeven, M. D., Professor of 
Zoology in the University of Leyden, &c. &c. In two volumes. 
Translated from the second Dutch edition by the Bev. William Clark, 
M. D., E. B. S., late Bellow of Trinity College, and Professor of Ana¬ 
tomy in the University of Cambridge. Yol. I., 1856 (Invertebrate 
Animals); Yol. II., 1858 (Yertebrate Animals). 8vo, with Plates. 
Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, for Longman, Brown, 
Green, Longmans, and Boberts, London. 
The Professor of Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, wishing to 
introduce to his pupils a Handbook of Zoology, and not finding one that 
he could recommend, written in the English language, has been at the 
trouble of translating the well-known work whose English title stands at 
the head of this notice. Yery similar were the reasons that induced the 
Bev. Dr. Clark to render this work into our vernacular; and those which, 
in 1827, induced Professor Yan der Hoeven to write these volumes. 
It is much to be regretted, we think, that the preface to the first 
edition of this “ Handbook” had not the effect of making somb of our 
native naturalists write a plain, intelligent, and cheap introduction 
both to Zoology and Zootomy. We hold, even with the two volumes 
before us, that such a book is still a desideratum, and we feel confident 
that there is among us some who could bring minds highly gifted by 
nature, and deeply learned by art, to bear upon this subject; and that 
the result would be equally creditable to them, and appreciated by those 
who could not afford money to purchase—nor, having purchased, af¬ 
ford time to peruse, such treatises as those of Yan der Hoeven and 
others. 
“ The Handbook of Zoology” chiefly consists of a catalogue of the 
classes, orders, families, and genera, into which the animal kingdom is 
divided. Introductory to each class we have a general sketch of the 
anatomy and development of some of its typical species; then comes the 
definitions of the class; of the various orders and families; then the 
diagnosis of the genera; a list of the more important sub-genera, and 
an enumeration of some of the more remarkable species, with remarks 
on their habits and economy; superadded to all being a very carefully 
written bibliography, thereby enabling us at once to refer to the very 
page on which the information sought for is required—whether that 
page be part of an elaborate monograph, or a short paper in some local 
periodical. 
Perhaps a perfectly natural classification has not yet been discovered 
—it is, as Linnaeus says, our first object and our last hope—but we do 
pride ourselves that if ever it is to be found, that day cannot be very 
far distant; not but that there will ever be some class like Cuvier’s 
Badiata, into which may be bundled all the forms we feel in doubt 
about, the simple fact of their not belonging to any other class pre¬ 
supposing them to appertain to this. Yan der Hoeven takes as his lead¬ 
ing idea the fourfold division laid down by his illustrious contemporary, 
Cuvier; not, it is true, following it to its utmost extent, but far more 
