Retrofpec? of Domeftic Literature.—Natural Hiftory, Se, 
year and a half fince, with a tranflation, in 
four volumes, of the Zoological Part of the 
Syftema Nature, from Gmelin’s laft edi- 
tion. Dr. Turton aimed at nothing more 
than a plain and faithful reprefentation of 
his original ; the very remarkable concife- 
nefs of that original, however, is not at all 
times capable of being preferved in a tran- 
flat'on, and it has occafionally happened in 
thefe volumes, that harfhnefs, and even 
obfcurity, has arifen from this laudable 
defire to preferve the manner, as well as 
the matter of the original. In the intro- 
duftory treatifes, it muft be obferved, Dr. 
Turton has by no means been fo fcrupu- 
loufly faithful as it was obvioofly incum- 
bent on him tobe: feveral important omif- 
fions are difcernible here; they are, never- 
thelefs, in a great meafure, compenfated by 
many additions in the body of the work, 
for which the tranflator acknowledges his 
obligations to Latham, Fabricius, and 
particularly Dr. Shaw, from whofe writ- 
ings he has extracted all the newly dif- 
covered {pecies, and many valuable obfer- 
vations on thofe formerly known. 
Proceeding in his plan, Dr. Turton has 
recently publithed a fifth volume, (part 2, 
vol. 1.) relating to the vegetable kingdom. 
Much to the advantage of his werk, Dr. 
Turton, without avowing it, has deviated 
from the arrangement of Gmelin, and re- 
ftored that of Linné, with the fingle ex- 
ception of the order Monogamia, in the 
clafs Syngenefia. 
Dr. THORNTON is proceeding in his 
great national work, ashe pompouily calls 
it, ** A new Illufiration’’ of the Linnean 
fyfiem.. Seventeen numbers are already 
before the public, whofe expetations, it 
is believed, are egregionfly difappoiated. 
The work was evidently not intended for 
common readers; it is drefled out for the 
levee and the drawing-room of princes and 
the nobility. The plates are finifhed with 
exquifite delicacy, and will immortalize the 
vanity and infufficiency of Dr. Thornton. 
Dr. SHaw’s ‘ General Zoology’ pro- 
teeds with undiminifhed excellence. The 
fourth volume is recently publithed of this 
moit valuable work. ‘This very accurate 
naturalift in his third volume trea‘ed on 
reptiles and ferpents—-fifhes form the 
fubject of the prefent. It is obvious, from 
the nature of the element in which they 
live, that, comparatively fpeaking, little 
can be known of their natural hiftory. 
Of the habits of many of them we are al- 
mott ignorant ; feveral of their moft im- 
portant funétions are performed where the 
eye of man cannot.penetrate. Some fifhes 
conftantly remain at the botyom of the 
647 
water, fo that accident only can prefent 
them to the inveftigation of the naturalif. 
This fourth volume contains the natural. 
hiftory of the apodal, the jugular, and 
theSthoracic filhes. We may foon expect 
another, embracing the abdominal and 
cartilaginous ones, and which will com- 
plete this part of the work. 
To the detail of the feveral genera in 
each order, and of the feveral {pecies in 
each genus, Dr. Shaw has prefixed a ge- 
neral defcription of the external and inter. 
nal parts of fifhes, chiefly taken from the 
works of Dr. Monro. He’ has taken ad- 
vantage of the dilcoveries and obfervations 
of travellers on whofe accuracy and fci- 
ence he might depend, and has confulred 
the writings of the beft compilers and ar- 
rangers. In the order apodes, Dr. Shaw 
has introduced ten genera, in addition to 
the eight which appear in the twelfth edi- 
tion of the Syftema Nature; they are 
anguilla, fynbranchus, fphagebrancus, mo- 
nopterus, odontognathus, comephorus, 
triurus, leptocephalus, ftylephorus, and 
fiernoptyx. In the thoracic order, the new 
genera are gymnetrus, vandellius, macrou- 
rus, gobiomorus, acanthurus, eques, tri- 
chopus, gomphofus, ophiocepalus, lon- 
churus, holocentrus, bodianus, and tra- 
chichthys. In the courfe af the work, 
numerous {pecies are moreover added to 
many of the Linnean genera. 
‘° Teflacea Britannica; or,' Natural 
Hiftory of Britifh Shells; by GEORGE 
MonTacue, F. L. S.”” 
_ Ona former occafion we noticed, with 
approbatien, Mr. Montague’s ‘* Oraitho- 
logical DiGionary ;’ in, the prefent work 
Mr. Montague has exchanged the alpha- 
betical far the {cientific arrangement, and 
the alteration is certainly for the better, 
He has added a great many new genera 
aud {pecies, and the volume will be wel- 
comed by cenchologilts, as by far the 
moft accurate, elegant, and comprehenfive 
of any on the fubject. 
“A Defcription of the Genus Pinus, hy 
AytmMerR Bourke Lampert, Eg. 
F.R.S. Vice-Prefident of the Linnzan So 
ciety.” 
This is a very magnificent and coftly 
publication; the fplendour of the type 
and the beauty of the engravings, how- 
ever, conititute a fmall portion of the 
value of the work. ‘The genus pinus has 
hitherto been imperfe&tly underftood, and 
the greater number of its fpecies infufhe 
ciently difcriminated. Mr. Lambert, with 
a-view to fupply the deficiencies of the 
Syfiema Nature and the Hortus Kee 
wenis, and with a laudable ambition to 
promote 
