Mr. BELL, the eminent- dentist, has for many years been
forming a collection of living Turtles and Tortoises; which exceeds that of any museum in Europe, and includes four-fifths of the known species. He is now publishing the result of his researches and observations in a Monograph cif TeStudinata, illustrated with original coloured draw- ings of every species, and their most remarkable varieties ; most of Gimp taken from the life, the rest from shells, and only in a few un- avoidable instances from accurate plates. A Zoological account of the fossil species will be added to the work. Mr. BELL observes in his prospectus, that few groups of animals have suffered more from imper- f -ftt delineations and descriptions. In most museums, the shells only are preserved ; or the skin is stuffed carelessly, so as to sacrifice the precise character of the animal. Taxidermy, or the art of preserving, animals, has only lately, we believe, been 'practised by scientific nett- ralists—at least in this country. The taxidermist, like the alderman of old, contented himself with "a forcible distention of the skin with as large a quantity of.tow or Wool (venison and turtle) as it would bear without actual bursting." The plates of this work are splendid' specimens of colouring. The variegated hues and transparent substance of the tortoise-shells are imitated.to perfection. They are lithographed by LEAR, from draw- ings by SOWERBY, and coloured by BAYFIELD; and we do not know which of the artists to commend most highly. It is a superb picture- book, independently of its scientific value.
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