at least be sometimes useful even here. Had he, in addition to the structure and economy of the more highly organized plants, traced that of the descending series to the lowest verge of vegetable vitality, and observed the distribution of the varied forms of both, such circumstances would not be destitute of utility. He would have become aware that the numerous species of lichens and fungi are confined to peculiar media, upon which alone they would seem to be capable of existing. The various primitive and secondary rocks yield a resting place to particular species of the former tribe especially; and so invariable is this attachment that the geological botanist, if I may be allowed the expression-seeing it is scarcely possible to separate, at least, an outline of the one science from an intimate acquaintance with the other-the geological botanist will often judge, by the hue of its surface clothed with a thin coating of primeval vegetation, the composition of the rock which he is approaching. Thus, likewise, the greater number of the epiphytic lichens, though probably subsisting solely upon the moisture contained in the atmosphere, are not indiscriminately scattered upon the stems of all the different species of trees in the same climate, but vegetate exclusively upon those the outer surfaces of whose barks afford them the necessary texture to which nature has adapted their powers of adherence. The skilful landscape-painter knows how to adapt his colours thus to the trunks of those trees he is desirous of representing; he sees that of the oak invariably differing in the hue of its humble dependants, from that of the beech, the elm from the willow, and so on of others.

The fragments of the imported barks carry these minute and long-neglected adherents to the living fabric which bore them, even after being housed for years in the obscurity of our warehouses, so little altered that the eye of the cryptogamic botanist is at no loss to detect their very species. The memoir of Fée contains much curious matter for speculation upon this subject; and though his researches have, perhaps, had more importance attached to them, by some, than they actually deserve, it cannot be contested that these natural indications of organic difference between the spurious and true officinal barks, are entitled to more attention than the incredulous, because often ignorant, inspector is willing to allow.

Future observation will probably render them still more so, by associating them with important geographical phenomena It is an indisputable fact that certain genera, and even orders, of plants are mutually adapted, by that similarity in their organization which occasions us to class them together, to inhabit, almost exclusively, the different climates in which they are indigenous: particular proportions in the mean temperature and moisture of the atmosphere, perhaps combined with some other yet unappreciable influences, acting under different parallels, or at different elevations upon the surface of our globe, have prescribed limits which some of the natural groups of the vegetable kingdom have never yet passed, or beyond which they are but very slowly progressing. Thus, the extensive genus Erica, or Heath, consisting of about four hundred known species, belongs almost exclusively to the southern extremity of Africa; some eight or ten are scattered over Europe, but not a single species has been hitherto discovered on the opposite continent of America, or its islands. There, however, the Cacti communicate a remarkable feature to the equatorial regions, and the Oaks and Magnolias to the northern continent. To the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, the country of the Erice, our collections are, likewise, indebted for the multitudinous families of Pelargonium and Mesembryanthemum; while, on the other hand, the Passiflora without, and the Bignone with very few, exceptions, are confined to the meridianal or central part of the new continent. Of the Roses, not a single indigenous species is known either in South America or Africa. Of the Aloes, only one species is a doubtful native of the West-Indian islands-the Barbadoes Aloe of the shops; three or four species only of a genus originally very numerous, though now divided, are met with out of Africa: while, on the contrary, two allied genera, the Yucca and Agave, are exclusively aborigines of the western continent. Other natural groups and their species are found only at particular elevations above the level of the ocean. The Cinchonacea of the tropical forests, Humboldt ascertained to be confined by limits of this description. And though some of the epiphytic lichens are found to be indifferent to temperature, others are only capable of existing at a certain mean, and their presence, therefore, upon the dried bark would be

indicative of the natural site of the tree that produced it. We are yet, however, but as children in regard to our knowledge of the mutual dependence of organic beings upon each other; and still more so, when we view them in connection with the complicated chemical and mechanical agency with which their existence is amalgamated.

SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY.

(GOULD'S "BIRDS OF EUROPE.")

IN conformity with the pledge given in the last number of The Analyst, we proceed to analyse the splendid work of Mr. Gould on The Birds of Europe. The First Part, with which we shall commence, made its appearance in June, 1832, and has been regularly followed up, at intervals of three months, by the publication of its successors. Each part consists of twenty folio plates: the figures drawn upon stone, in a style of uncommon accuracy, and, in general, coloured with admirable taste, fidelity, and effect. The more striking peculiarities of plumage, which result from age or sex, are frequently illustrated by the introduction of two figures; and sometimes, although more rarely than we were led, from perusal of the Prospectus originally published by Mr. Gould, to expect, two or more of the species of a genus of the middle-sized or smaller birds are grouped together in a plate. In that Prospectus, Mr. Gould proposed that each part of his work should exhibit, on the average, twenty-five species. Hitherto he has failed in the performance of this important pledge. Fortunately, however, for his own credit and for the interest of his subscribers, the hour of redemption is not yet irrevocably past.

The analysis upon which we are about to enter will, ordinarily, comprehend the specific and, whenever the institution of new genera may require, the generic characters of each bird, as traced by Mr Gould; and all the more novel or valuable information which may

be gleaned from his accurate and masterly descriptions; the syno nyms of the species in the English, Latin, French, Italian, and German languages; and occasional remarks on the new systems of ornithological arrangement and nomenclature, as proposed by modern writers, and, more especially, by an able, but anonymous, contributor to The Analyst; whose labours adorn our last and present numbers. The luminous descriptions of Temminck, and the iconographical productions of Selby, Werner, Meyer, and other of the more successful and celebrated delineators of the bird-class will also frequently be referred to.

FIRST PART.-PLATE I-Presents a figure of the Lesser Kestrel, -Falco Tinnunculoides,-Faucon Cresserellette, Fr.-Falco di terre diverso, It.,-distinguished from the common European species, F. tinnunculus, by 1st. the extension of the wing to the extremity of the tail; 2d. absence of spots from the superior part of the plumage; 3d. perfect whiteness of the claws; and 4th. marked and constant inferiority of size. The adult female, somewhat larger than the male, so closely resembles the female of F. tinnunculus, as only to be distinguishable by attention to the first, third, and fourth points of specific difference, above traced. She lays four eggs; differing little, in size and colour, from those of the common Kestrel. F. tinnunculoides inhabits the southern and eastern regions of Europe, and preys upon the smaller mammifera and birds, but principally upon the larger species of coleopterous and hymenopterous insects, which it captures, with almost unerring precision of aim, upon the wing. No specimen of it has as yet been recorded as taken or seen in the British islands. The propriety of constituting a new genus which, with the two Kestrels, shall include F. rupicolus; F. spervarius,— for an excellent figure and description of which, see Fauna BorealiAmericana, vol. ii., pl. 24, page 31; and "several other species, of America and its adjacent islands," is cursorily adverted to by Mr. Gould. His figure of our present subject is admirably drawn and coloured. Werner's corresponding plate, given in the second Livraison of the Atlas des Oiseaux d'Europe, will not, for one moment, sustain comparison with it. Might not a more eligible specific designation than tinnunculoides be conferred upon this species; distinguished as it is, from its most nearly-allied congener, by greater

length of wing, and whiteness of claw? This is a point too knotty for us to decide upon. We leave it, contented with having thrown out the mere hint, to be settled by the zealous ornithological reformer of Derby, and the acute, but too bitterly "sarcastic, Senex." PLATE II.-The Red-footed Falcon,-Falco rufipes (Ingrian Falcon, and Orange-legged Hobby, of Latham,-Falco vespertinus, of Gmelin),-le Faucon à pieds rouges, Fr.,-(Variété singulière du Hobereau, singular variety of Hobby, of Buffon),-Falco barletta piombina, It.,-Rothfussiger Falk, G. This fine species, previously known as principally inhabiting the Russian province of Ingria, where it is named Kobez, will acquire a peculiar interest in the eyes of the British ornithologist; since it is now formally recognized, from re-iterated instances of capture in our own island, as a British bird. It is distinguishable from all the other Falcons, and especially from the Hobby to which it is most nearly allied, and of which Buffon considered it a mere variety, by the orange-red colour of its feet. Hence, its specific designation is most apposite and unobjectionable: and the lucky bird, unlike certain other aspirant and predatory animal bodies exhibiting orange members, may set reformers and reform, and even the menaces of the great PhiloHellenic Hume himself, at utter defiance. The plate exhibits specimens of an adult female and male, exquisitely drawn and coloured. The corresponding figure in Werner's second number, although excellent, must at once succumb to the superiority of talent evinced by Gould. Omnia cedant Auro.

PLATE III.-The Kingsfisher,-Alcedo ispida,-Martin-Pêcheur Alcyon, Baboucard, Fr.,-Gemeine Eisvogel, G. It hath often strangely perplexed us to divine where and from whom this beautiful little creature acquired its specific designation. Time after time, have we rummaged lexicons and other musty repositories of ancient lore in search of the unknown epithet: yet no such term as idos in the Greek, or ispidus in the Latin, has been found to reward our patient scrutiny. Peradventure, that profound ornithologist and erudite scholar, Professor Rennie, should these humble pages be honoured with his glance, may commiserate, and deign to “enlighten our ignorance" on this subject. As ispida is the only European species of the Alcedo genus, we shall not pause to trace its specific cha