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After a careful survey of all the new genera, we cannot but wish that in the admission of them, Dr. Shaw had been less frequently guided either by the Count Cepede or Dr. Bloch. Both of them are infected with the mania of multiplying genera: and where he has differed from them, he has in almost every instance manifested superior judgment. We have intimated on a former occasion that we have no objection to a large genus, provided its essential character be clearly and accurately defined. Nothing then remains to be done, but to break it into subdivisions or families; and when the systematizing naturalist has exercised his sagacity in this necessary task, the investigating student will pursue his researches with facility and pleasure.

In the course of the work numerous species have been added to many of the Linnæan genera; but as they are chiefly natives of distant seas, and described from dried specimens, nothing more than a bare description, and that often an imperfect one, can be expected. The species of sparus, labrus and perca, are numerous in the Systema Naturæ, and it is confessed by Linnæus himself, that these three genera and the sciana are not easily distinguished from each other. The large additions which have since been made to them have increased the confusion. The generic characters of sparus in particular, are not sufficiently discriminated either by Linnæus or Dr. Shaw, though the latter has not hesitated to differ materially from his great master. In the Systema Naturæ, the lips of the spari are said to be double, and those of the labri single. In the General Zoology the direct contrary is asserted. Those of the spari are described as thick; and those of the labri as thick and doubled but no notice is taken of the lips in any of the detailed descriptions, and as far as can be judged from the species there figured, there seems to be some of both kinds in each of the genera. In the Systema Naturæ, the species of sparus are 26, and of labrus, 41; in the General Zoology, those of the former are 162, and of the latter, 104. Dr. Shaw acknowledges that many of these may probably be only varieties, and that possibly some may have been repeated and described under each genus. It should seem that in the present state of the subject, the best method would be to throw the whole into one genus, good generic character can be obtained,

and then to divide it into natural fami lies; or if it do not readily yield to such a distribution, to form artificial ones, and to arrange them in a synoptical table at the head of the genus, similar to those which Linnæus has placed at the head of the classes in the three kingdoms of nature, for which he will always receive the hearty thanks of every young naturalist.

For the entertainment of our readers, and as an additional specimen of Dr. Shaw's style and manner, when he does not transcribe from preceding writers, we shall give his account of the echeneis remora.

"The extraordinary faculty which this fish possesses of adhering at pleasure with the ut inost tenacity to any moderately flat surface, was not unobserved by the ancients, and is described in terms of considerable luxuriance by Pliny in particular, who giving way to the remora as possessing the power of stopthe popular prejudices of his time, represents ping a vessel in full sail, so as to render it perfectly immoveable in the midst of the sea.

"The real fact is, that the remora being a fish of very weak powers of fin, takes the advantage of occasionally attaching itself to any large swimming body, whether animate or inanimate, which it happens to encounter; adhering to ships, as well as whales, sharks, and many other of the larger fishes: it has even been observed by Commerson, that the remora is so il calculated for supporting a long and laborious course in the water, that when left to its own exertions, it generally swims on its back, and that in an unsteady It is therefore necessary and feeble manner. that it should avail itself of the occasional as

sistance of some larger floating body. For this purpose the upper part of the head is wonoval shield or area, traversed by numerous derfully constituted; presenting a large, flat, dissepiments or partitions, each of which is fringed at the edge by a row of very numerous perpendicular teeth or filaments, while the whole area or oval space is strengthened by a longitudinal division or septum. So strong is the power of adhesion which the fish by this apparatus is enabled to exert, that we are assured by Commerson, whose observations on this subject are detailed by Cepede, that, on applying his thumb to the shield of a living reinora, it was affected not only with a strong stupor, but even with a kind of paralysis, which continued for a considerable time after withdrawing his band. When attached, as is frequently the case, to the skin hold when the former is drawn out of the of a shark or other large fish, it quits not its of the animal; nor is it easy for the strongest water, but continues adhering after the death arm to effect its separation, unless it be pulled if a in a lateral direction, so as to force it to slide along the surface of the skin.

"When a great many of these fishes are thus adhering at once to the sides of a ship, they may in some degree retard its motion, by preventing its easy passage through the water, in the same manner as any other extraneous substances are known to do; nor can it be thought improbable that the adhesion of these fishes in considerable numbers to the side of a small canoe in the earlier ages of mankind, may have operated still more powerfully, and not only have impeded its progress, but even have caused it to incline towards one side; and the tale once related, might have gradually grown into the exagge rated powers afterwards ascribed to the animal. "A second reason of the remora's thus attaching itself to the larger fishes and to vessels is, that it may be in readiness to avail itself of the occasional remains of the prey of the former, or of the offals thrown out from the latter; being naturally voracious, and by no means delicate in its choice, and frequently following vessels in great numbers in order to obtain occasional supplies of food. The remora also, especially in stormy weather, adberes to rocks, like the lump-fish and some

others.

"The remora is principally an inhabitant of the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas. Its general colour is an uniform brown, without any material difference of shade either on the

upper or lower surface. It sometimes how

ever varies in colour, and Commerson assures us that when a great number of these fishes are attached either to the side of a vessel or to a large fish, it is not very uncommon to see one or two which differ from the rest in being of a whitish colour. The skin is smooĥ and destitute of scales, but marked with numerous impressed points or pores; the mouth is large, and furnished with very numerous small teeth; and the lower jaw is rather longer than the upper: the eyes are small, with yellow irides: the lateral line commences above the pectoral fins, and from thence pretty suddenly descending, runs straight in the tail, which is of a slightly forked, or rather lunated form. The number of transverse divisions on the shield of this species varies from sixteen to twenty, but the most general number is eighteen. The fish grows to the length of about eighteen inches."

Dr. Shaw seems to attribute the adhesive power to the fringe of perpendicuJar teeth or filaments on the edge of each partition. We strongly suspect that the effect is to be accounted for on the principles of pneumatics, and that the apparatus, in its general manner of operation, is similar to a simple amusement of children, which consists in raising up a stone by the means of a string fastened to the middle of a picce of wet leather. If the filaments were of a glutinous nature, and the whole of the tenacity arise from that circumstance, it is not easy to

conceive how the animal could readily disengage itself at pleasure, or how, in consequence of a force laterally directed, it should slide with comparatively so much ease on the body to which it is attached. The remora, we apprehend, previously to its adhesion, diminishes the breadth of its shield by a muscular contraction of the dissepiments or partitions; so as to fill up the intermediate furrows, and to form a plane surface in close con tact at all points with the substance on which it is about to fix. It then instantly restores its shield to its former state, and each furrow becomes nearly a vacuum, on which the external air and water presses with a force, greater or less, in proportion to the dimensions of the in tervening surface. The use of the fringe of filaments is probably to let in the air or water by a similar muscular contraction, and at once to remove the cause of the adhesion. The common goby, and perhaps all the gobies may adhere to rocks, and set themselves at liberty, by 2 similar contraction and dilatation of the funnel shaped central fins.

Mr. Pennant asserts in his British Zoo

logy, that the tunny frequents our coasts, but not in shoals like the tunries of the Mediterranean; and that they are not uscommon in the lochs on the western coast of Scotland, where they come in pursuit of herrings, and often during night strike into the nets and do much damage. Dr. Shaw, though he quotes Mr Pennant, and does not dispute his authority, ap pears to think them of less frequent occurrence, and speaks of them as acci dental stragglers. Such we have reason to believe is the case. In the summer of 1801, we ourselves happened to be at Inverary in the height of the herring fishery, which that year was remarkably abundant, and enquired of an old fisher man whether any tunnies had been lately taken, with a faint hope that we might be fortunate enough to obtain a sight of this rare British fish. He did not know it by the name of mackrel sture, which Mr. Pennant says it bears in the west of Scotland, but on a little farther expla nation recognized it as what he called an overgrown mackiel, and said that one was taken in Loch Fine ́about 30 years before, of five or six hundred weight, but that he had not heard of any in the Loch since. Mr. Pennant was there in 1769, and probably saw the same fish; or se veral stragglers might have accidentally wandered to the same coasts about the

same time. We suspect that the vanity of the Highland fishermen led them to, represent a rare instance as a common

one.

The account of the chatodon rostratus is curious, and with it we shall close our account of Dr. Shaw's important work.

This fish is a native of the fresh waters of India, and is celebrated for the extraordinary manner in which it takes its prey, which chiefly consists of the smaller kind of flying insects: when it observes one of these either hovering over the water, or seated on some aquatic plant, it shoots against it from its tubular snout, a drop of water, with so sure an aim as

generally to lay it dead, or at least stupified, on the surface. In shooting at a sitting insect, it is commonly observed to approach within the distance of from six to four feet, before it explodes the water. When kept in a state of confinement in a large vessel of water, it is said to afford high entertainment by its dexterity in this exercise, since if a fly or other insect be fastened to the edge of the vessel, the fish immediately perceives it, and continues to shoot at it with such admirable skill as very rarely to miss the mark. The same faculty is possessed by the sparus insidiator, and some few others belonging to very different genera.

ART. II. Rural Sports: By the Rev. WILLIAM B. DANIEL. 3 Vols. large Svo.

IT is asserted by one of our English poets in an early part of the last century, that the satyric muse ought not to be silent,when amidst other prevailing enormities,

Churchmen scripture for the classics quit, Polite apostates from God's grace to wit, He probably alluded to the great Bentley, at that time in the zenith of his reputation as a classic scholar, and to Dr. Zachary Pearce, afterwards Bishop of Rochester, who had then recently published an improved edition of Longinus. We are persuaded that every candid judge will pronounce the censure to be illiberal and severe. Those eminent men, while they added to the treasures of literature and the reputation of their country, by their unwearied labours on the valuable remains of Greece and Rome, were so far from deserting or negligently performing the duties of their sacred office, that they rendered the study of such authors as are usually stiled profane, of admirable use in the explanation of the holy scriptures, and the defence of their religion against the attacks of its adversaries. Dr. Bentley's sermons at Boyle's lectures, the first that were delivered on that occasion, entitle him to a high place in the class of divines. Dr. Pearce's Vindication of the Miracles of Christ, and his posthumous notes on a considerable part of the New Testament, are a sufficient proof that he was not inattentive to his peculiar profession as a minister of the gospel.

But if so slight a deviation from the direct duties of the clerical character, could so far" chafe" the poet's "spleen"

as to compel him to exchange "panegyric" for "satire," how would his wrath have boiled over, and how caus tic would have been the ebullition, if he had lived at the heginning of the nineteenth century, and had cast his eye upon Rural Sports by the Rev. Wm. B. Daniel! What would he have said of the boisterous apostates from the grace of God to the mysteries of the dog ken nel? We honestly confess that we ourselves, though far from wishing to pos sess an equal degree of rigorous strictness, could not avoid wishing that the epithet Reverend had not appeared in the title page, and that we should have been better pleased, if, instead of writing on the pleasures of the chace, the avowed ecclesiastic had been employed in collecting the various readings of Sophocles or Euripides. In the first effusion of a humour which we acknowledge was tinctured with somewhat of the spleen, we were tempted to give a paraphrastic translation of his motto, Vitanda est im proba Syren desidia; and to understand it as a declaration, that if he did not hunt and shoot he must be in bed all the winter, or at the best spend his days in an arm chair, dozing over a relaxing fire. We recollected the arch reply of a Quaker, more than thirty years since, to a reve rend sportsman who was boasting of his infallible skill in finding a hare: " If I were a hare, I would take my seat in a place where I should be sure of not being disturbed by thee from the first of January to the last of December.” “ Why where wouldst thou go?" "Into thy study."

Such were our feelings when we first

took up Mr. Daniel's work. But a little reflection gave our thoughts a different turn. We considered that a fondness for rural sports, though it certainly does not indicate a very studious mind, is by no means incompatible with much moral worth; that it is not every one who can make the closet the centre of his existence by a sedentary life;" and that a man may follow the hounds or carry a gun, and yet be a conscientious parish priest, be a pattern to his flock of pub lic and private virtue, and have a heart warm as melting charity to the afflicted poor of his neighbourhood. A certain monitor within also whispered in good time, that some of us grave and sober critics, who have the same handle to our names, are not always actually engaged in the express business of our profession. We do not pretend to assert that we are composing a sermon when we are writing a review on a book of rural sports. We are conscious that we have often been seen peeping into a hedge bottom, not indeed in search of a hare, but of a rare plant; and that in the prosecution of our favourite pursuits, we have climb. ed the steeps of Snowden, and traversed the rocks of Staffa, with as great a transport as can be produced by the most brilliant fox chace, which old Tom Noel or Meynel himself ever knew.

*

All these sagacious reflections might have been spared, if we had recollected a little sooner that our business is not with the author but with his work. We are not sorry, however, that we have been induced to review the temper of our minds, before we pass a judgment on the performance of another man: for in consequence of this self discipline, we trust that we are better prepared to form a fair and impartial estimate of its merits, and entertain a hope that we may, in some measure, remove or lessen the scruples of our more serious readers.

Mr. Daniel has accustomed himself to read and think, as well as to pursue the diversions of the field. In the course of his work he manifests so much chearful good humour, sterling good sense and unaffected honesty, that we can readily believe him a favourite member of the Essex hunt; and do not doubt that he often checks by his presence the indecency and profaneness which

would otherwise escape from the lips of many a rough country squire, when the declining sun has warned the party to retire from the open air into the diningroom, and to exchange the noisy and active sports of Diana for the equally noisy but less active joys of Bacchus.

A reflecting mind will give an air of science to its amusements, as well as to its graver occupations. There are sports. men whose superiority to a fox or a hare is founded almost entirely on the dis tinction between the pursuer and the pursued; and who differ from the hounds, their companions in the chace, in having only two legs and riding comparatively at ease on the back of a horse, while their hounds have four and run on foot. Our author is not one of these. He is not satisfied with merely catching his game; but is animated with the laudable ambition of forming an acquaintance with its character and habits; and of knowing all that has been said of it by writers on natural history. The knowledge which he has acquired, he has be nevolently wished to communicate; and has added to the information obtained from others, so many observations of his own, that he will be deservedly quoted in future systematic works as an original authority. On this account we do not scruple to allow him a respectable situation in this department of our Review. He does not indeed arrogate to himself the high and mighty character of author; but modestly presents himself to the public under the humble appel lation of compiler. He frankly acknowledges that a large portion of the contents of his volumes has been collected from various publications; but at the same time asserts, and truly asserts, that "the fresh matter is considerable: and that the whole is arranged in a novel and distinct system."

Rural sports may be distributed into three grand classes, hunting, fishing, and shooting. These accordingly constitute the several parts of the work.

Hunting, again, may be divided into fox-hunting, stag-hunting, hare-hunting, coursing, and the less noble pursuit of those animals which go under the general denomination of vermin.

The treatise on hunting is introduced by a panegyric on the dog and a general

It is a favourite observation of one of our brave naval commanders, that the chief difference of rank among British subjects consists in some men having handles to their names, and others not.

history of the kind; for which, like all his recent predecessors, he is much indebted to the luxuriant fancy and elegant pen of Buffon. Like him he derives from the shepherd's dog many of the numerous varieties which have been the effect of domestication: but in opposition to that popular naturalist, he asserts that the dog will couple both with the wolf and the fox, and that the dogs of Greenland and Kamptschatka are of wolfish origin. Among the many instances which he has given of that in stinctive sagacity in his favourite animal which nearly approaches the confines of intellect and reason, one or two appear of dubious authority; but the collection is the most copious which we have seen, and will be entertaining to readers of every description.

Having given this general account of the species, he proceeds to those which are more particularly connected with rural sports, and amongst these the foxhound takes the lead.

With respect to the size and shape of fox-hounds, and their management both in the kennel and the field, he takes for his guide" that well informed fox

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hunter who has favoured the world with' his thoughts on that particular diversion." But he does not blindly rely on "this compleat master of the science :" he sometimes gives a different opinion of his own" founded on long and successful practice:" though, as he modestly intimates, the difference may have resulted from local situation." On the construction and economy of the dogkennel, he has a right to assume a decisive tone; for he is master of one himself, and, in whatever concerns it, is perfectly at home. But Mr. Meynel, he informs us, is, perhaps, "the only man compleatly skilful in making the most of any particular hound by nicety of feeding "Hounds," he adds, " to do their work in style, should be well in flesh, and that flesh, firm; they should never be fat--a fat hound, a fat horse, or a fat man, if propriety be at all consulted, can have no business at a fox chase."

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The conclusion of the following paragraph concerning the height and shape of the fox-hound will relax the muscles of the most rigid cheek into a smile.

"The height and shape of the fox-hound, is next to be considered: and doubtless the difference of country may excuse a variableness of opinion in this respect; but there are

certain hounds well adapted for business; and which will not suffer themselves to be disgraced in any country; and these are the middle sized. All animals of that description In the colour of their hounds most sportsnien are strongest and best able to endure fatigue. have their prejudices; in their shape, it is presumed they must all agree; to look well they should be nearly of a size, if they appear of the same family it will be an addition, and if handsome withal, they are then perfect so far as respects their appearance, but there are necessary points in the shape of a hound, which ought ever be attended to, for if he is not of perfect symmetry, he will neither run fast, nor bear hard work; much speed is required, and he should possess adequate strength. His legs should be straight as arrows; his feet round, and not too large; his shoulders should lie back; his breast rather broad; his neck thin; his head small; his wide than narrow; his chest deep; his back tail thick and bushy, and which, if he carries well, will add to his comeliness. It must be kept in mind, that although a small head is mentioned as one of the requisites of a foxhound, that it is to be understood as relative to beauty only; for as to goodness, large headed hounds are in no wise inferior. As an instance: amongst a draft of hounds from Earl Fitzwilliam's was one, of whom this remark in his letter: "that he could not Will Dean, his Lordship's huntsman, made

young

guess at Lord Foley's dislike to the hound "called Glider, then sent, which was of "the best blood of the country, being got "by Mr. Meynell's Glider, out of Lord Fitz"william's Blossom, and was moreover the

most promising young hound he had ever "entered, unless his lordship took a distaste "to the largeness of the head; but he begged "leave to assert, although it might appear a "trifle out of size, there was a world of se"rious mischief to the foxes contained in it."

The event just fied Dean's prediction in its utinost latitude, for Glider was a most capi tal chace, and long a favourite stallion hound, notwithstanding the magnitude and inelegance

of his head."

The directions concerning the breeding, education, and future government of fox hounds are equally full and explicit. But we have neither room to follow him in his details, nor capacity to pass a judgment on their merit. On this occasion we are obliged to employ that implicit faith which we are sensible does not properly belong to the workshop of a reviewer. But in the present instance there is no alternative. Rural Sports must either be reviewed by an incompetent critic, or it must not be reviewed at all. For when, from the days of Le Clerc to the present hour, did a fox-hunter take his place at any of our boards?

The diseases of dogs are treated of at large. The most fatal of these are that

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