known, claffes of amphibia, fifhes, infects, and vermes, are all comprised in the remaining volume. The fyftematic part of this work can only be regarded as a medium of connection, and is conducted on the plan of Linnæus, as altered by Gmelin, and fome other naturalifts. This arrangement is the more fatisfactory, as, fhould a perfon be. induced by this introductory view of zoology, to feek the acquirement of a more fcientific knowledge, he would find the way confiderably fhortened, by being previoufly, and as it were imperceptibly, informed of the general outlines of the Linnæan fyftem. The defcriptive part is, in all cafes, curtailed as much as poffible, unlefs where any fingular flructure occurs, which, from being effentially connected with the habits of the animal, requires a more ample detail. The fynonyms of different authors however are given, in order to afcertain the fpecies under confideration. The habits and manners of life among animals being the principal object of the work, are the part on which the moft care and attention have been beftowed. It is indeed impoffible for any individual to fpeak of the greater part, even of known animals, from his perfonal knowledge; but Mr. B. has collected, with much industry, thofe relations which appeared in any degree authentic. There are alfo fome few of a more doubtful nature; but the fources whence they are taken are always pointed out, that the original relator may ftand refponfible for the truth, and the degree of credit due to them be properly appreciated. As to vulgar errors, they are in general expofed to the contempt they merit. It is not, however, folely to the general habits of the species that Mr. B. has confined himself. Animals, in a flate of domeftication, frequently exhibit powers which are not enjoyed, or at least not brought into action, in their wild flate. Several anecdotes of this kind are collected. Some of these indeed are. fo extraordinary, as hardly to be credited without further evidence; yet Mr. B. appears to have omitted many stories which, though found in authors of repute, feemed incredible; he has alfo rejected fuch as are trite and vulgar. The differences of opinion of the authors from whom Mr. B. has collected his materials, feem to have led him, in a few inftances, to a difference of reasoning; the actions of animals being fometimes afcribed to inftinct, and at other times merely to an acquired experience of their utility. Much is faid re-. fpecting the powers of animals to communicate their ideas to each other, more, we apprehend, than the facts will warrant. The The following inftance of a terrier dog, related in vol. i. p. 213. will ferve to illuftrate our obfervation. "An anecdote related by Mr. Hope, and well authenticated by other perfons, thews alfo that this animal is both capable of refentment when injured, and of great contrivance to accomplish it; and that it is even poffeffed of a certain power of combining ideas and communicating them to one of its own fpecies, fo as to produce a certain preconcerted confequence. A gentleman of Whitmore, in Staf fordshire, ufed to come twice a year to town, and being fond of exercife, generally performed the journey on horfeback, accompanied most part of the way by a faithful little terrier dog, which, left he might lofe it in town, he always left to the care of Mrs. Langford, the landlady at St. Alban's; and on his return he was fure to find his little companion well taken care of. The gentleman calling one time, as ufual, for his dog, Mrs. Langford appeared before him with a woeful countenance:-Alas! Sir, your terrier is loft! Our great house-dog and he had a quarrel, and the poor terrier was fo worried and bit before we could part them, that I thought he could never have got the better of it. He however crawled out of the yard, and no one faw him for almost a week: he then returned, and brought with him another dog, bigger by far than ours, and they both together fell on our great dog, and bit him fo unmercifully, that he has fcarcely fince been able to go about the yard, or to eat his meat. Your dog and his companion then difappeared, and have never fince been seen at St. Alban's. The gentleman heard the story with patience, and endeavoured to reconcile himself to the lofs. On his arrival at Whitmore, he found his little térrier; and on enquiring into circumstances, was informed that he had been at Whitmore and had coaxed away the great dog, who, it seems had, in confequence, followed him to St. Alban's, and completely avenged his injury." Now, although it must be allowed that the terrier had formed. a plan of revenge, and found means to put it in practice, we difpute the idea of his having (as Mr. B. feems to fuppofe) communicated that plan to the other dog. That the terrier induced the great dog to follow him, we admit; and we think that fufficient to explain the affair. The fame explanation will fuffice for the other inftances of a fimilar nature to be found in this work. The united actions of animals in fociety, feem to have great analogy with those of an army; of which the leaders. have indeed their preconcerted plans, but these are not communicated to the others, nor is it any way neceffary to the fuccefs of thofe plans that they fhould be fo. The foldiers, or the animals, are, by exhortation, or command (conveyed in the moft fimple manner, frequently by figns) brought to the place of action; the reft follows of courfe, from the perfonal feelings of individuals. It has been frequently faid by philofophers, who wished to lower the condition of mankind, or to combat the doctrine of innate ideas, that man is merely an imitative animal, and that his moft laboured works are only copies of those of animals; many of these have been pointed out as the models from which most of the arts, and even sciences, of mankind have been derived; but we do not recollect that they have produced the art of haymaking as being one of them. With a view to furnish them with this new inftance, we fhall felect Mr. Bingley's account of the Alpine Hare (which is found on the fnowy mountains, from Lake Baikal in Siberia, as far north as Kamifchatka; fometimes burrowing between the rocks, but more frequently lodging in the crevices, and generally in pairs) from vol. i. "By the ufual wonderful inftinct of like animals, they make a provifion against the rigorous season in their inclement feats. A company of them, towards autumn, collect together valt heaps of favourite herbs and graffes, nicely dried, which they place either beneath the overhanging rocks, or between the chafms, or round the trunk of fome tree. The way to these heaps is marked by a worn path, and in many places the plants appear feattered, as if to be dried in the fun and harvefted properly. The heaps are formed like round or conoid ricks; and are of various fizes, according to the number of the society employed in forming them. They are fometimes about a man's height, and ufually three or four feet in diameter. "Thus they wifely provide their winter's ftock, without which they muft, in the cold feafon, infallibly perifh, being prevented by the depth of fnow, from quitting their retreats in queft of food. "They felect the best of vegetables, and crop them when in the fulleft vigour. These they make into the beft and greenest hay, by the very judicious manner in which they dry them. The ricks they thus form are the origin of fertility among the rocks; for the relics, mixed with the dung of the animals, rot in the barren chasms, and create a foil productive of vegetables. "Thefe ricks are alfo of great fervice to that branch of mankind who devote themselves to the laborious employ of fable hunting; for, being obliged to go far from home, their horfes would often perish for want, had they not the provision of these induftrious little animals to fupport them. They are eafy to be difcovered by their height and form, even when covered with fnow. The people of Jakutz are said to feed both their horses and cattle on the relics of the winter flock of these hares." P.471. Mr. B. is a ftrenuous advocate for the preservation of swallows, fparrows, and other infect-eating birds, in which we perfectly agree with him. As the legiflature has thought proper to preferve the breed of a few birds, which form the luxuries of our tables, it furely would not be beneath its dignity to watch with equal care over thofe, whofe exiftence is effentially connected with the abundance of our harvests. Of the mifchiefs which may follow from the extirpation of fuch useful ufeful birds, the following anecdote, from Vol. II. relating to the purple grackle (fpelt grakle by Latham, Pennant, and others) will give fome idea. "It is a migratory bird, and found in moft parts of America. It affociates with the red-winged oriole in ravaging the plantations of maize; and these they attack together in myriads. In New England a reward was offered of three pence a dozen for their heads; and the inhabitants foon found, to their own coft,, that they had at one time nearly extirpated them; for they then difcovered, that providence had not formed even thefe feemingly deftructive birds in vain. It was true that they had made dreadful havoc among the grain; but they amply recompenfed the injury, by clearing the ground of the larvæ of noxious infects. As foon as the birds were deftroyed, the infects increafed in fuch multitudes, as, in the year 1749, to caufe a total lofs of the grafs; and the inhabitants were, in confequenos, obliged to obtain hay for their cattle, not only from Penfylvania,, but even from Great Britain." P. 289. A defire to render his work ufeful to the female fex, and caufe the ftudy of zoology to become a branch of their acquirements, has led Mr. B. to abftain from entering on thofe fub-, jects which might be dangerous to the purity of the female mind; in this refpect, his work is more valuable than the writings of Buffon and his followers; among whom, a contrary proceeding is fo confpicuous. Partial collections of zoological fpecimens are, from their delicacy and beauty, adapted to the manners of the fex; but we are doubtful if an attention to the habits of living animals (the part here principally illuftrated) can, notwithstanding every caution, be recommended with propriety to female ftudents. We could have withed that the details of the wanton cruelties which have fometimes been inflicted upon animals (fee an inftance in vol. ii. p. 107) had been omitted. In feeling minds thofe recitals produce the most uneafy fenfations; while, on the other hand, it may be doubted, whether fuch accounts do not often, like the relation of crimes, produce an ef fect contrary to what was intended. In vol. iii. p. 495, the Guinea worm, filaria medinenfis of Gmelin (which, as is well known, is frequently many feet in length) is very ftrangely confounded with the furia infernalis, a worm totally different, and defcribed by Gmelin to be longitudine unguis. We have not, however, discovered many fuch errors, and can fafely recommend this work as one that will afford confiderable entertainment; repeating only, that many of the flories in it should be received with helitation, even when fanctioned by confiderable names. BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXII. AUGUST, 1803. BRITISH BRITISH CATALOGUE. POETRY. ART. 15. Mifcellaneous Tranflations and Imitations of the minor Greek Poets. By J. B. S. Morritt, Efq. 12mo. 51 pp. with Vignette Plates. 35. 6d. Payne and Mackinlay. 1802. The author of thefe Tranflations has been for fome time advantageoufly known to the literary world, by his " Vindication of Homer," and "Additional Remarks on Troy," the prefent book offers to the public fome of the claffical amufements of his leifure. It contains only four Poems: the Loves of Hero and Leander, from the Greek of Mofchus; the Rape of Europa; the Monody on the Death of Bion; and a fhort addrefs to the Evening Star; all attributed to the fame poet. Mr. Morritt has performed his talk with elegance, without confining himself to the ftrictness of exact tranflation. As the originals are in the hands of every fcholar, it will not be neceffary for us to make an elaborate comparison of them; it will be fufficient to felect a fpecimen, which shall be the laft Poem entire. "On the Evening Star. Hail Hefperus! bright torch of Beauty's queen, As glows the moon above thy radiance pale, And envious fets ere half the night be done. Sweet is her love, and claims a fweet return." ART. 16. The Crifis of Britain: a Poem, addressed to the Right Hon. William Pitt, on the threatened Invasion of thefe Kingdoms by the French in A. D. 1798; and now republished with a View to rouse the Indignation of a great and infulted Peoples 410. 23. 63. White, and Hatchard. 1803. This Poem, at its original publication, was entitled "the Crifis, or the British Mufe to the British Minifter and Nation," and was no * See Brit. Crit. vol. xii. p. 633; xiii. 116; and xvi. 418. |