154 
EE VIEWS. 
the dark-leaved mora, with its white blossoms, the fig, cashew, and mimosa tribes, which 
are here of unwonted dimensions, and a thousand other giants of the forest, are contrasted 
with the graceful palm, the delicate acacia, reeds of 100 feet high, grass of 40, and tree- 
ferns. Passiflorse and slender creepers twine round the lower plants, while others as thick 
as cables climb the lofty trees, drop again to the ground, rise anew and stretch from 
bough to bough, wreathed with their own leaves and flowers, yet intermixed with the 
vividly-coloured blossoms of the Orchidese. An impenetrable and everlasting vegetation 
covers the ground; decay and death are concealed by the exuberance of life; the trees 
are loaded with parasites while alive—they become masses of living plants when they die. 
Here, too, occurs the Siphonia elastica , that invaluable tree whose juice, known under 
the name of caoutchouc, has become one of the most important substances in commerce.” 
The distribution of animal life is less carefully treated of, and the 
faith of the reader in many of the assertions made by our authoress can¬ 
not fail to be shaken by the detection of numerous errors and inconsis¬ 
tencies. Of the eighty-two pages appropriated to the consideration of 
this division of her subject, nearly thirty are devoted to the mammals 
alone, twenty to the birds, twelve to the reptiles and amphibians, seven 
to the insects; while the fishes and marine invertebrata are dismissed 
in less than fourteen. Yet, it will surely be admitted, that the distri¬ 
bution of the Mollusca, Crustacea, and Echinoderms, is at least as impor¬ 
tant, in a scientific point of view, as that of any of the more conspicuous 
animal tribes on which our authoress has enlarged so much; for no 
other reason, it would seem, than that information respecting them can 
be obtained with less trouble and difficulty. 
Mrs. Somerville divides the Mammalia into nine orders, thereby ex¬ 
cluding the Bimana, Insectivora, and Monotremata. The marine Cetacea 
are said to consist of three genera , for which latter term the word fami* 
lies should be substituted, in order to render the passage correct. The 
following passage occurs in the chapter on the distribution of fishes :— 
“ There are singular analogies between the inhabitants of the sea and land. Many 
of the Medusae, two corallines, the Physalia, the Portuguese man-of-war of sailors, sting 
like a nettle when touched. A cuttlefish at the Cape de Yerd Islands changes colour like 
the chameleon, assuming the tint of the bottom on which it rests. Herrings, pilchards, 
and many other aquatic animals, are luminous. The Medusae, or sea-nettle tribe, which 
are numerous in species, have also the faculty of emitting light in a high degree. In 
warm climates especially the sea seems to be on fire, and the wake of a ship is like a vivid 
flame. Probably fish that go below the depths to which the light of the sun penetrates 
are endowed with this faculty. These luminous creatures are the glow-worms and fire-flies 
of the ocean, while the fish with great eyes that live in its dark abyss represent its bats 
and owls. But among terrestrial animals there is nothing analogous to the property of 
the Gymnotus electricus of certain South American lakes, or of the Silurus electricus of 
the African rivers, and the several species of torpedo of the Mediterranean, which possess 
the faculty of giving an electric shock by means of a very beautiful organic voltaic appa¬ 
ratus with which they are provided.” 
The analogies here stated are certainly of a singular character. Does 
Mrs. Somerville suppose that phosphorescent fishes serve for the illumi¬ 
nation of those depths of the ocean which the light of the sun is unable 
to penetrate? Then, as to the change of colour in’a species of cuttle-fish 
found at the Cape de Yerd Islands, we, for our own part, se'e no neces¬ 
sity for travelling so far from home to witness a phenomenon which may 
