common level, and affords a remarkable proof of versatility of talents. We now clofe our account of this volume, which has run to an unexpected length, though we have refrained from noticing one half of its contents. We have praised when we could; we have been silent, when the subject merited neither praise nor blame; and we have attacked nothing but affectation, the mortal poison of every species of composition. In whatever form this enemy of good poetry may appear, whether in overstrained refinement or in vulgar simplicity, we shall use our utmost endeavours to expose it. It is particularly incumbent on us thus to exert ourselves, when we observe writers of merit justifying their carelessness, and bespeaking our favour for verses "Which a dog might write, If he could hold a pen," as our old acquaintance Hall has said. The insurmountable objection to all hasty productions is, "Why do you publish?" The art of rhiming correctly is now so common, that it excites no surprize; and unless a writer can excel his predecessors, he has no justifiable temptation to appear in print, excepting the facility of his readers. A book newly printed is a novelty to the multitude, though it may contain nothing new to scholars. We hope that the next volume of this work will exhibit more estimable originality, and less of the bizarre, than the one which is now before us. ART. IV. Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. IV. 4to. 11. 5s. Boards. White. 1798. Vol. V. 11. 1s. Boards. White. 1800. UNA NAVOIDABLE circumstances having delayed our account of the fourth volume of this work, a fifth has just made its appearance, and we shall now pay due attention to both.This quickness in the publication of the Linnean Society reflects the highest credit on the zeal and science of its members; particularly when we recollect that the approbation of all lovers of natural history in Great Britain, as well as on the Continent, has hitherto been the only encouragement which they have received. The papers contained in both these volumes comprehend much valuable information, which will serve to give improvement to different parts of the science, and to furnish observations and details which may be useful to future inquirers. In vol. IV. we find twenty-four papers; the first of which, entitled Aves Sussexienses, by William Markwick, Esq. is a 7 systematical systematical catalogue of 175 species of birds observed by him in the county of Sussex; distinguishing those that are continually resident there, and those which migrate to that country in summer or winter, or are occasional visitors. This catalogue is followed by a number of notes relative to particular species, in which Mr. Markwick proves himself to be an attentive and candid observer. Anecdotes of the late Dr. Patrick Browne, Author of the Natural History of Jamaica*; by Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq. In an excursion to Ireland in 1790, Mr. Lambert made a visit to the above-named meritorious and venerable botanist, then living retired at Ballinrobe, in the county of Mayo. All that - Mr. L. saw and learned of him shews how deeply rooted was his passion for botany, even in his last days; for he died soon afterward, at an advanced age. These anecdotes may be considered as useful materials for a Biographia Botanica; which is still a desideratum. Descriptions of three rare Species of British Birds, by G. Montagu, Esq.-These three species are the sylvia sylvicola, or wood-wren; the tringa nigricans, or phayrelaru sand-piper; and the alauda petrosa, or rock lark. The second of these birds is a non-descript, and was killed at Larn, in Wales. Account of some Species of fossil Anomia, found in Derbyshire. By Mr. William Martin.-The species of anomie found in the lime-stone strata of Derbyshire are very numerous. In about two years, Mr. Martin had collected twenty-nine species of them; fourteen of which belong to the tribe of the imperforate, and fifteen to the perforate. He classes them according to the proportions and shape of their valves, hinges, margins, and apertures. One among them, not before noticed by naturalists, he describes at full length under the name of anomia cuspidata. Some pertinent observations are found in this paper respecting the hinge of these shells, and their perforation, considered as a generic character. Essay on the Eye-like Spot in the Wings of the Locuste of Fabricius, as indicating the Male Sex; by Professor Lichtenstein. We are not to wonder if, in describing the innumerable organized beings, even the greatest naturalists have been sometimes bewildered as to the proper import of the differences which are observed. The study of natural history is of so recent a date, and its object is so widely extended, that such mistakes scarcely diminish our good opinion of those who committed them, and only add lustre to the sagacity of those later observers who perceive and correct them. Fabricius had taken the curious * See Rev. vol. xv. p. 301. 333. eye eye-like spots, which are the subject of this essay, as specific. differences of some locuste; and he had therefore called them L. perspicillata, L. specularis, L. perforata. The author of this paper had occasion to examine a great number of species of genus of insects, in the Holthusian museum; and he found that, in all species of locustæ, the males possessed this singular character, and the females were deprived of it. He describes the structure and use of this part, exemplifying it in the locusta salvifolia, of which he gives a figure. The paper is full of entomological erudition. Such observations tend to diminish the number; already too great, of species of insects; a class of animals in which it is probable that the two sexes, in many instances, having different appearances, have been described as so many different species. Linné had already remarked that the papilio jurtina, and the papilio janira, were only different sexes of the same species. A new Arrangement of the Genus Polytrichum, with some Emendations, by Mr. Archibald Menzies.-As this botanist very justly observes, the character of a genus, and the consequent arrangement of it, are perfectly settled only when a sufficient number of species is known. For this reason, the Linnean character of polytrichum is not satisfactory; and Mr. Menzies prefers that which was proposed by Leers, and adopted by the late Mr. Curtis in the Flora Londinensis. having fixed and detailed the natural character of the genus, he describes nineteen species of polytrichum, six of which are new; and four among these have been gathered by the author in the North-west parts of America, where he went with Captain Vancouver in his voyage round the world *. After Observations on the Spinning Limax, by Dr. Latham.- Mr. Hoy had given, in the first volume of the Linnean transactions, an account of this animal, which seems to be the limax agrestis. of Linné; and Colonel Montagu had occasion to make, in Cornwall, some observations on its faculty of suspending itself by a thread of its own spinning. These are the observations published in this paper by Dr. Latham; who is inclined to think it very possible that the spinning faculty may belong to every species of the genus limax. An Essay on the Trachea or Windpipes of various Kinds of Birds; by the same. In most birds, the natural shape of the windpipe is that of a regularly uniform cylinder of equal diameter, or nearly so throughout, from its rise at the root of the tongue to its entrance into the hollow of the breast-bone; where it divides into two branches, called bronchia, which ramify into * See Rev. vol, xxviii. N. S. p. 1. 141. 374. air air-vessels composing the two lobes of the lungs. A peculiar deviation from this general structure is observable in the males only of several species of birds, and had been mentioned by different naturalists. Dr. Latham, to whom ornithology is much indebted for his former publications, investigates this subject in the present paper with great attention and accuracy. He remarks that the deviations from the common structure of the trachea, in birds, are of two kinds. In the first, this organ, although of equal diameter, (or nearly so,) differs in being longer than the neck, thus allowing of a double about the middle of it; or forming one or more folds within the keel-like process of the sternum, which is hollowed out for that purpose; or, instead of entering the keel, it runs more or less over the surface of the breast, beneath the skin. The second kind of deviation is where the windpipe is unequal in diameter, although not elongated, but alters in shape and size in its progress to the lungs, before its devarication into the two lung-pipes. Dr. Latham gives the details of his remarks on this subject, in twenty seven species of birds; in all of which, the structure of the windpipe deviates from the common shape. He has found instances of the first kind of deviation in birds of different genera, but of the second only in some species of the two genera Anas and Merganser. Observations on bituminous Substances, with a Description of the Varieties of the elastic Bitumen; by Charles Hatchett, Esq.The Bovey coal, and the elastic bitumen of Derbyshire, are the two chief objects of this paper; and the observations which it contains, on the other bituminous substances, seem to be introduced with the view of explaining the nature of these two objects in a perspicuous manner; connecting them at the same time with the whole system of the bitumens, their origin and modifications. We cannot but praise the judgment of the author, in thus enlarging the views of the reader and avoiding repetitions. The Bovey coal, both from its analysis and from its comparison with the Surturbrand of Iceland, Mr. Hatchett is inclined to believe was produced from putrified vegetables; in which all the vegetable principles had been separated by the process of putrifaction: but the carbon, though developed by this natural operation, had not been dissipated by the free access of the air. The elastic bitumen of Derbyshire, of which he describes two species and twenty two varieties, very much resembles, in elasticity and colour, the Caoutchouc, or Indian rubber. When melted, it loses the elastic property, and a quantity of gaz is disengaged from it. What is melted is either petroleum, or mineral tar, mineral pitch, or asphaltum, according to the different varieties. Hence the suspicion justly arises, that the elastic property might be occasioned by the interposition of some elastic fluid with the parts of the bitumen; since, by melting it, the elastic fluid is liberated, and the moss loses that fine spongy texture which is probably the cause of the elastic property. Though this paper contains no chemical analysis, yet that profound skill in chemistry, for which its author is celebrated, pervades the whole of it. An Account of the Jumping Mouse of Canada-Dipus Canadensis; by Major-General Davies. As the species of the Jerboa kind, hitherto known, inhabit countries near the tropics, or within them, it is curious to find one species of it inhabiting a climate so intensely cold as Canada. Though its conformation classes it with the Jerboas, its habits are affected by the nature of the climate. During the cold season, from September to May, the jumping mouse lies in a dormant state, like other animals of cold countries. Observations on the Flowering of certain Plants; by Professor Martyn. Every botanist is acquainted with the Horologium Flora of Linné; to which these valuable remarks of Professor Martyn relate. The Professor observed, from the middle of August 1796 to the beginning of October following, the periodical expansion of the flowers of the anagallis arvensis, oenothera biennis, and hibiscus trionum, &c. comparing the modifications of this phænomenon with those of the weather, the barometer, and the thermometer. He describes also the curious movements which accompany the flowering in the last two plants. Remarks on some foreign Species of Orobanche; by James Edward Smith, M.D. &c. &c.-The depth of botanical knowlege, which generally characterizes the publications of this celebrated naturalist, is also conspicuous in the paper now before us; in which he demonstrates that the first species of this genus, in Linné's distribution, viz. the orobanche lavis, is a non-entity; and that its history has been fabricated partly from synonyms belonging to the crchis abortiva, and partly from those of a real orobanche unknown to Linné; the characters of which do not answer either to the name or description of the orobanche lavis. After the examination of this imaginary' species, he describes two real species, growing in foreign countries, viz. the orobanche caryophyllacea, and gracilis. A Description of five British Species of Orobanche; by the Rev. Charles Sutton, B. D. &c.-After having examined the curious germination of this genus of plants, Mr. Sutton de scribes |