Like some previous writers, Capt. Hall thinks that the Esquimaux are rapidly dying out. "Not many years more," he says, " and the Innuits will be extinct." It may seem presumptuous to differ from Capt. Hall on such a question as this, but he has certainly given no sufficient reason for such a belief. It has arisen, we think, from the numerous ruins of old huts, and vestiges of ancient occupation which are every where to be found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and which at first sight certainly appear to indicate a much larger population than that now in existence. But we must remember that the Esquimaux are essentially a nomad people, whose huts are the work of a few hours, and when a locality has been occupied for a few weeks, the traces of it would remain almost unaltered, for years and years afterwards.

Capt. Hall appears to have been greatly impressed with the beauty and magnificence of the Aurora Borealis. He ranges himself on the side of those who maintain that this glorious phenomenon is unaccompanied by noise: and he gives, we think, a probable illustration of the manner in which the contrary opinion may have originated. "Hark, hark," he says, "such a display! almost as if 66 a warfare was going on among the beauteous lights above, so palpable, so near, seems impossible without noise. But no noise "accompanied this wondrous display. All was silence."

་

It is evident that a less careful and accurate observer would have supposed that he heard those sounds which Capt. Hall as evidently expected, and at the absence of which he seems to have been almost disappointed.

There are some few cases, however, in which we are compelled to call in question the accuracy of Capt. Hall's observations, or at least, the manner in which they are expressed. Thus he tells us, that on one occasion, the cold wind froze the water of the eyes, "locking them up in ice, so that it was only by vigilance and effort "that I could keep myself in seeing order." If, however, the water of his eyes had really been frozen, no vigilance or care would ever have brought them into "seeing order" again. Probably, however, he only means the moisture on his eye-brows, and eye-lashes. Again he tells us that having inadvertently touched his brass sextant with the bare hand, "the effect was precisely the same as if I had touched "red hot iron. The ends of my finger nails were like burnt bone "or horn, and the fleshy part of the tips of my fingers and thumbs were, in appearance and feeling, as if suddenly burnt by fire." It

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is certainly curious how the effect of great cold on the flesh resembles that of heat, but surely our author must have been mistaken as to the effect on his nails, which would not have suffered from the cold more than the fur gloves which he had on this occasion forgotten to

use.

When we read of such extreme cold as this, of the thermometer 75°, 80°, and even more, below the freezing point, of reindeer, seals, Esquimaux, and other Arctic animals, it is astonishing to find that Capt. Hall never went farther than 64° north, just the latitude of Trondeim, where an electric telegraph, cathedral, churches, banks, and all the appliances of modern comfort and civilisation are to be found. In spite of isothermal lines, and Prof. Dove's maps, we are apt to forget how exceptionally favourable is the present climate of Western Europe.

Capt. Hall is an American, and writes from an American point of view. Thus, he always speaks of "London, England." This expression sounds peculiarly odd, in some cases where he is explaining names given to particular localities. Thus he talks of "Sabine Bay, "named after Edward Sabine, of London, England," lest we should not recognize the President of the Royal Society. And again, Cape Murchison, "named after Sir Roderick I. Murchison, of London, England," for fear, we presume, that we might suppose it to be called after any Roderick I. Murchison of London, America. On his return home, he met with a great rebuff. When the pilot came on board, at St. John's, Newfoundland, he asked, naturally enough, "Who is the President of the United States ?" "But so little did

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our affairs trouble this Newfoundlander, that he could give us no "information. I put the leading names to him, but still without "effect; he did not know." "This," adds Capt. Hall, " was mortifying." But a still more painful surprise was in store for him. "The North and the South," he was afterwards told, "are fighting against each other." "What!" I exclaimed, in utter amazement, what, war? war in the United States, and among ourselves?" No wonder he was astonished, but even he can hardly have realized the full horror implied by those words.

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One of the most interesting results of Capt. Hall's voyage, was the discovery, if indeed it be the discovery, of relics of Frobisher's expedition. Frobisher left England in June, 1576. On the 11th of July, he was within sight of Greenland, and after various misfortunes, returned to England in the following October. He brought with him

many pieces of black stone, some of which, "being accidentally put "in the fire, presented an appearance something like gold. Certain "refiners of London expressed the opinion that the specimens "submitted to them contained gold, and a second expedition was quickly set on foot." This second expedition sailed in May, 1577. Capt. Hall rests his opinion as to his discovery of remains of it partly on the traditions preserved among the Esquimaux and partly on the objects which he discovered. These consisted of "coal, flint stone, fragments of tile, glass, and pottery; an excavation, which I have called an abandoned mine, a trench made by "the shore, on an inclined plane, such as is used in building a ship on the stocks; the ruins of three stone houses, one of which "was 12 feet in diameter, with palpable evidence of its having been "erected on a foundation of stone, cemented together with lime "and sand, and some chips of wood, which I found on digging "at the base of the ship's trench. Upon this evidence, then, coupled with Esquimaux tradition, as given to me by several persons, apart from each other, and at different times, I founded my opinions respecting Frobisher's expedition, as I have already "stated them."

We confess that this interesting discovery does not appear to us so well established as Capt. Hall seems to think. Nor do the illustrations shown in the plate, page 295, of "Frobisher relics," throw much light upon the question. As far as we can judge from the figure, they might just as well be the relics of any other expedition. This plate, however, is an exception to the rest, which show that Capt. Hall can use his pencil as well as his pen.

The Author's preface is dated " June 30, 1861, on board the bark "Monticello, bound for the Arctic regions." We trust that by this time he has rejoined his friends in the North, and that he is rejoicing in an abundance of seal's blubber, and walrus flesh. We need not say that we wish him success in the main object of his journey; and if, alas! we can feel little hope that in this he will be successful, we trust, at least, that he himself will meet with no more than the unavoidable hardships of Arctic life, that he may return safely to his family and friends, and that, as his first return was darkened by the news that his country was plunged in war, on his next he may be rejoiced by finding that she is again at peace.

XIX. THE LINNEAN SOCIETY'S TRANSACTIONS.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. Vol. XXIV.

4to. London, 1863-4.

THE Linnean Society stands confessedly at the head of all English institutions for the promotion of Biological researches. In thus saying, we reproach no other scientific body. The objects of the Royal Society are of a more general, those of the Geological and Zoological Societies, of a more special character. All these Societies issue quarto volumes of Transactions.' But the Transactions of the Linnean Society alone are wholly devoted to the two great departments of Biological Science, Botany and Zoology.

The volume of 'Linnean Transactions,' just brought to a conclusion, includes three separate Parts, published during the years. 1863-4. The first volume of Transactions appeared in 1791; the twenty-fourth, and last, at the close of the past year. On an average, therefore, three years has been the period of gestation for each volume. Henceforward, we may expect one every alternate year.

The present volume numbers 532 pages and 59 plates. There are, in all, 27 separate communications. But, as one of these is merely a note to its predecessor, and two others form successive portions of the same series of records, the real number of papers may be estimated at 25. Looking through these papers, we find an absence of any on Vertebrate or Cœlenterate animals, while Cryptogamic Botany is represented solely by Mr. Currey's Notes on British Fungi.' With these restrictions, the volume displays a considerable diversity of subject-matter. Of the 25 papers, 15 are zoological and 10 botanical. The former include 388 pages, the

latter 142. But this discrepancy is chiefly caused by the excessive dimensions of one zoölogical memoir, Mr. A. Murray's 'Monograph of the Family of Nitidulariæ,' which extends to 204 pages, and was originally designed as one of the Catalogues of the British Museum.

In the following comments we shall refer to many of the papers under abbreviated titles. Of the ten on Botany, six may be set down as purely descriptive or nearly so, and the remaining four as morphological and physiological, namely,—

1. HOOKER-On Welwitschia.

2. SALTER-On certain Monstrous Passion-flowers.

3. HARLEY-On the parasitism of the Mistletoe.

4. OLIVER--On the contractile tissues of the pods of Pentaclethra.

The above have all received due notice in our pages, more especially Dr. Hooker's Essay on Welwitschia. This essay may justly be regarded as the most important special addition to the literature of phænogamic botany since the appearance of the classic memoirs of Robert Brown. Thus, whatever the botanical moiety of this volume wants in quantity, it more than gains in the quality of its contents. And this meed of praise its zoological contributors may, without disparagement of their own claims, courteously accord.

The six papers on descriptive botany are as follows:

1. CURREY-Notes on British Fungi.

2. HANBURY-On Cassia moschata.

3. MANN and WENDLAND-On the Palms of Western tropical Africa.

4. HANBURY-On the Siam Gamboge-tree.

5. KIRK-On Walleria.

6. MIERS-On the Conanthereæ.

Mr. Currey's Notes,' so far as published, contain diagnoses and more detailed accounts of thirty-eight species of Fungi, one half of which are new to science. Ten others are mentioned as new to the British Flora, while the nine remaining forms display peculiarities of structure, either previously unnoticed or interesting because of their bearing on most questions touching the nature and relations of this anomalous group of plants. Thus, the 'cystidia,' or vesicles, organs of doubtful function, to which reference was made in the last number of this Review, (pp. 65-67), are described and figured as they occur on the gills of Agaricus esculentus. Again, in Cribraria intricata, one of the Myxogasteres, Mr. Currey has observed a mode of germination of the spores similar to that which takes place in Sphæria herbarum and other undoubted Fungi. And in Badhamia, true spore-sacs, like those of the ascigerous Fungi, occur. These and other facts militate against the view of De Bary that the Myxogasteres should be removed to the animal kingdom. As various matters of general import in connection with the organization of the Fungi are referred to in these Notes,' they may be looked upon as effecting a transition between the two classes of botanical memoirs indicated above.