Captain Harris's discovery of the beautiful new species of Aigoceros, which has recently been purchased by the British Museum; and his drawing and description of this noble antelope, in the last part of the Zoological Transactions, have rendered his name as a “naturalist” familiar to European zoologists. Whilst yielding to him the full share of praise to which he is entitled, for this interesting addition to the Fauna of South Africa, we cannot think the general aspect of his narrative justifies the Quarterly Review, through the medium of its widely circulating pages, in holding up his volume, for its zoological excellencies, as a pattern to future African explorers.

Sir James Alexander (the author of the second narrative) went out at the joint expense of the Government and of the Geographical Society; and though he may not have been puffed in the Quarterly, the value of his discoveries has been acknowledged, in the honor of knighthood being awarded him on his return.

After witnessing the exciting scenes which must sometimes arise in penetrating through parts of the African continent rarely or never previously trodden by European footsteps, we can readily conceive that the imagination may become so sensible to impressions, as almost unconsciously to blend, in some distant hour of retrospection, the realities of the journey with the adventurous and oft-repeated tales of the native hunters. But he, who has any sincere regard for the interests of Natural History, will bear in mind that the philosophical zoologist is anxious to acquire every possible information respecting the habits of animals which, in comparatively little known portions of the globe, come under the notice of the traveller; and that by the exercise of the most scrupulous fidelity in recording facts which really pass under his own immediate observation, he has it in his power essentially to aid the former in the discrimination of doubtful species, and in the establishment of those generalizations, which must ever be the higher objects of zoological science. We trust however that in future African narratives, an author will not be thought to have been deficient in the use of his eyes, or in his zeal for Natural History, even though he may not have brushed a lion from every bush, or heard the noise of the clicking horns of the pseudo rhino

ceros.

Our geological readers will be gratified to see, by a communication from Mr. James De Carle Sowerby, that he has at length determined on the immediate continuation of the 'Mineral Conchology.' As we have already fully expressed our own opinion upon the general question to which his letter is directed, it is unnecessary that we should now make any further allusion to the subject. We may observe, however, that the

foreign demand,-one fourth of the entire number,—is much greater than we should have supposed; and we are led therefore to consider the reasons still more urgent, why this demand should not be supplanted by a continental edition. We think the continuation of this work, and also the 'Species Conchylierum' by Mr. G. B. Sowerby, of such importance, that it would afford us no slight satisfaction if their claims upon the resources of the British Association, were to be taken into consideration at the Birmingham meeting.

6

We have just received the 10th and 12th livraisons of the Poissons Fossiles,' certainly two of the most beautiful which have yet appeared. Several plates are appropriated to the Ichthyodorulites and the teeth of Hybodus, but there is nothing bearing upon the subject of the supposed frontal spine in this genus. We perceive that the letter addressed to us by Prof. Agassiz, has been lithographed, and copies inserted in the livraisons of this work.

We have much pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of two portraits, one of Mr. Children, and the other of Mr. Spence, just published by Mr. Raddon, formerly a London Artist, but now a resident of Bristol. We can bear personal testimony to the faithfulness of the first, and we think highly of both as works of art.

Should Mr. Raddon meet with encouragement, we understand that he will publish portraits of other distinguished entomologists.

Letter from MR.. JAMES DE CARLE SOWERBY, on the subject of the French Edition of Mineral Conchology.

SIR,

Camden Town, July 27, 1839.

It is hardly possible that I should remain silent after seeing, from the strictures you have made on the French edition of my 'Mineral Conchology,' the great interest you feel in the cause of that class of authors, whose works are similar in character to this publication. And feeling practically that unless some protection be afforded them by at least their brother authors, and the scientific portion of the public, they must soon be reduced to that small number who are sufficiently opulent to pay for the satisfaction they experience in their own minds, in being able to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, I beg to thank you for the man

ly way in which you have advocated what appears to me to be the true and lasting interest of science,-the encouragement of original publications, in opposition to the specious but fleeting advantages which cheap piracies possess. Such works only tend to convert what would otherwise be a flowing stream, into a stagnant lake, by cutting off the springs which had given it life.

Mons. Agassiz has, however, proposed to revise and correct the work in question; a proposal which, if carried fully into effect, would certainly be beneficial to the study of Geology but in many instances it will be found that his translation perpetuates the errors of the original.

The following short history of the work will explain why revision and correction are necessary, and also account for the inequalities (justly observed by M. Agassiz) which occur in the execution of the different parts of it. This statement is not offered as an excuse for the errors, many of which have been corrected in the later volumes, but to show that such errors were mostly unavoidable at the time the work was in progress, and also as being likely to interest all who take a part in the discussion you have excited.

The first number of the 'Mineral Conchology' was published by the late Mr. James Sowerby, in June, 1812, two years before Lamarck's 'Systéme' appeared. The author being much more partial to the pictorial department, referred the principal part of the text to his two eldest sons (myself and Mr. G. B. Sowerby), while he executed the plates wholly himself: and he continued his task regularly, even during a long and painful illness, until within three or four days of his death in 1822, when a considerable portion of the fourth volume had been published. For some time previously to this sad event, it had fallen to my lot to describe the whole of the shells, and now I was obliged, in addition, to engrave the plates, a few only having been done in advance by my father. At the conclusion of the sixth volume, circumstances induced me to close the work, with a view to commencing it again in a form more agreeable to the wishes of geologists; and this intention has not been lost sight of, for a continual expense has been incurred in collecting new materials, and many thanks are due to my friends in responding to my request; still however the whole of the indexes are not published, and chiefly because I have been induced to give up my time towards forwarding the immediate objects of the leading geologists of England, by yielding them the best assistance my humble talent would permit.

The sale of the 'Mineral Conchology' has only been about

400 copies, above one fourth of which number has been sent abroad. The encouragement therefore for carrying on the. work has hitherto been not very great; but your having directed public attention so strongly to it, and the anxious wishes of my friends, have stimulated me to determine now upon its immediate continuation, which I hope to effect in a month from this time.

I fear I have said too much about myself, but you will perhaps excuse me if I say a few words in reference to the translation. Mons. Agassiz has not always improved the generic characters by the alterations he has made. For instance, under Solen he says, " CAR. GEN. Bivalve........ longitudinale," instead of transversely elongated. In Ammonites the word "dorsal" is inserted, whereas the siphon is truly ventral; &c. Neither has he embodied all the corrections given in the latter part of the work, indeed he seems not to have consulted the index in No. 105 in any case. There Cassis is referred to Cassidaria; Modiola parallela to Plagiostoma elongatum; Helicina to Rotella; Helix carinatus to Pleurotomaria, whether correctly or not, may be a question, but certainly it is not a Cirrus, (he proposes to name it Cirrus Sowerby); Venus to Cyprina; Murex to Fusus; and Vivipara to Paludina: though Agassiz has introduced several of these alterations as his own. Still, some of his remarks are good, and will not be lost sight of by me.

I am, Sir,
Your's,,&c.

J. D. C. SoWERBY.

SHORT COMMUNICATIONS.

I TRUST I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in London in July, 1840; in the mean time I hope I shall be a little successful in procuring a few more objects in Natural History, worthy the notice of zoologists. The stores I now possess will occupy the Proceedings in the various branches of Zoology, for many years to come.-H. Cuming:-Manila, Nov. 18, 1838.

Lycopodium inundatum grows within a hundred yards of the railway station on Woking Common.-George Luxford, A.L.S., &c.-London, July 11, 1839.

THE MAGAZINE

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

SEPTEMBER, 1839.

ART. I.-Extract from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, on the subject of the relation existing between the Argonaut-shell and its cephalopodous inhabitant.

February 26th, 1839.—“ A HIGHLY interesting and valuable series of specimens of the Paper Nautilus (Argonauta Argo), consisting of the animals and their shells of various sizes, of ova in various stages of development, and of fractured shells in different stages of reparation, were exhibited and commented on by Professor Owen, to whom they had been transmitted for that purpose by Madame Jeannette Power. Mr. Owen stated that these specimens formed part of a large collection illustrative of the natural history of the argonaut, and bearing especially on the long-debated question of the right of the cephalopod inhabiting the argonaut-shell to be considered as the true fabricator of that shell.

"This collection was formed by Madame Power in Sicily, in the year 1838, during which period she was engaged in repeating her experiments and observations on the argonaut, having then full cognizance of the nature of the little parasite (Hectocotylus, Cuv.), which had misled her in regard to the development of the argonaut in a previous suite of experiments described by her in the Transactions of the Gianian Academy for 1836.

"As this mistake has been somewhat illogically dwelt on, to depreciate the value of other observations detailed in Madame Power's Memoir, Mr. Owen observed, that it was highly satisfactory to find that the most important of the statements in that memoir had been subsequently repeated and confirmed by an able French malacologist, M. Sander Rang. Mr. Owen then proceeded to recapitulate these points.

66

First, with reference to the relative position of the cephalopod to the shell, Madame Power, in her memoir of 1836, describes the siphon as being applied to the part of the shell opposite the involuted spire. M. Sander Rang, who made his observations on the argonaut in the port of Algiers, after having had cognizance of Madame Power's experiments, states, in his memoir published in Guerins's 'Magazin de Zoologie' (1837), that in all the argonauts observed by him, the siphon and ventral surface of the cephalopod were invariably placed against the outer wall or keel of the shell, and the opposite or dorsal surface of the body next the involuted spire. "Secondly, with reference to the relative position of the arms of the cephalopod to the shell, and the uses of the dorsal pair of arms, usually called the "sails," Madame Power had described these velated arms as being placed next the involuted spire of the shell, over which they were bent, and expanded forwards so as to cover and conceal the whole of the shell, and from which they were occasionally retracted in the living argonaut: she further made the important discovery that these expanded membranes were the organs of the original formation and subsequent reparation of the shell, and ingeniously and justly compared them, in her memoir of 1836, to the VOL. III.-No. 33. N. s.

2 Y