LEWEs’s SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 
101 
in concluding this part of his subject he complacently observes that “ the 
foregoing discussion has had a purpose beyond that of rectifying an uni¬ 
versal error—the purpose of pointing a lesson in comparative anatomy.” 
It would he unfair to detain our readers with an account of the nu¬ 
merous errors which Mr. Lewes has fallen into concerning various ques¬ 
tions in general zoology. Thus, there is a vain and absurd disquisition 
about the distinctions between the animal and plant, and a long chapter 
on Parthenogenesis, in which he throws a cloud of obscure and doubtful 
learning around a subject not in itself difficult of explanation, so far as 
the facts which have been already observed warrant us to draw conclu¬ 
sions. It is still more provoking, after having read page after page, to 
find not a single fact which the most elementary manual would not have 
furnished quite as well. Quotations, interesting, no doubt, but long 
familiar to every student who is in the slightest degree familiar with the 
works of British naturalists, abound: e. g. Johnston’s account of the 
voracity of Actinia, Porbes’s numerous descriptions of Luidia, &c. &c. 
These, however, we hardly object to, since they contrast agreeably with 
the raw statements of scientific truths which they are intended to illus¬ 
trate. 
Mr. Lewes more than once informs us that certain undescribed forms 
of marine animals have fallen under his notice. Thus, at page 336 our 
hopes are raised when we are told of a new species of Tubularia, which 
he proposes to name T. parasitica. Ho account of this Tubularia is 
given, nor have we any description of a new genus of Polyzoon which 
he met with on another occasion. We are left altogether to form our 
own conceptions of •“ two entirely new genera of Annelids,” about which 
the author has nothing to tell us beyond the fact of their occurrence. That 
an author of a work like the present would gladly seize the opportuni¬ 
ties afforded him by the description of newly discovered forms of life, 
to give an air of novelty to a subject on which so much has already been 
written, seems to us but natural, and we cannot, therefore, help regard¬ 
ing the silence of Mr. Lewes on all such matters as more than suspicious. 
Notwithstanding our belief in the reality of Mr. Lewes’ sea-side travels, 
there are few parts of his work which might not easily have been writ¬ 
ten without the necessity of visiting the sea at all. We ourselves, when 
in search of Plumatellae, are accustomed to find these animals in ponds 
or rivers. Hot so Mr. Lewes, who, disdaining this common mode of 
procedure, discovers a Plumatella (?) between tide-marks. Hot a 
word of description is added concerning this new and interesting marine 
form! 
It is to be feared that many misguided persons, charmed by the lofty 
assertions and agreeable style of Mr. Lewes, may accept as original the 
numerous plagiarisms with which his book is stored. But we would 
caution all such to beware before they surrender their judgment to an 
author who marvels at the sight of live cowries, and cries out, “By hea¬ 
vens !” when he sees a common Comatula. 
The illustrations are, with one or two exceptions, borrowed, and 
executed in a very inferior style. 
