Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/484

452 Por-beagle up to 40-lb. weight, and have lately had the former species round ray boat to a length of close on 5 ft., a dangerous size. I am, however, induced to publish this warning by the fact that on Wednesday a young fisherman of this place, dangling his hand over the side in manipulating his Mackerel lines, had the sleeve of his shirt torn to the elbow by one of these surface prowlers. Folk who acquire most of their knowledge of sea-fish in the metropolis are given to doubt the presence of true Sharks in the Channel, preferring to regard them as Dog-fish. May I give them my assurance, for what it is worth, that these are but two of several true British Sharks; that they are, as proved by the aforementioned episodes, both large and aggressive, and that they are most in evidence on those calm hot days that chiefly attract the bather.

zoologists are unfamiliar with the name of the publisher, John Van Voorst, who died on the 24th July, after a long and successful life, having been born as early as February 15th, 1804. He belonged to an ancient Dutch family which had settled in England several generations ago. He was apprenticed to Richard Nicholls, of Wakefield, somewhere about 1820, and, after passing some years with the Longmans, began business on his own account in 1835, in Paternoster Row. After publishing fine illustrated editions of such works as Gray's 'Elegy,' Goldsmith's 'Vicar of Wakefield,' &c, he turned his attention to the union of artistic execution with scientific publications, and 1835 saw the commencement of Yarrell's 'British Fishes,' followed by Bell's 'British Quadrupeds' in 1836, Yarrell's 'British Birds' in 1837, and a series of recognized classics on British Crustaceans, Zoophytes, Starfishes, &c. As specimens of wood-engraving, the cuts by Sam Williams and John Thompson in Selby's 'British Forest Trees' (1842) show the perfection attained in an art now less practised; while the illustrations to Yarrell's 'British Birds,' including the vignettes, show how nearly black-and-white can indicate colour. After a long and prosperous career, Van Voorst retired from business in favour of his assistants, Messrs. Gurney & Jackson, in 1886; but his genial interest in old friends and a younger generation of naturalists never flagged until, on the completion of his ninety-fourth year, the exhaustion of natural forces began to make itself apparent. For many of the above facts we are indebted to the obituary notice which appeared in the ' Athenæum.'