PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, 



The preceding preface exhibits a faithful account of the 

 state in wliich I found the history of animals at the time the 

 first edition of this work was published. During the twelve 

 years that have since elapsed, this science has made immense 

 progress. The labours of numerous, courageous, and learned 

 travellers, who have explored every region of the globe, the 

 rich collections formed and rendered public by various go- 

 vernments, the profound and splendid works where new 

 species are described and figured, and whose authors have 

 been determined to detect their mutual relations and to con- 

 sider them in every light(l), have all been instrumental in 

 producing this result. 



I have endeavoured to avail myself of these discoveries, as 

 far as my plan permitted, by first studying the innumerable 

 specimens received at the Cabinet du Roi, and comparing 

 them with those which served as the basis of my first edition, 

 in order to deduce thence new approximations or new subdi- 

 visions, and then by searching in all the books I could pro- 

 cure for the genera or subgenera established by naturalists, 

 and the description of species by which they have supported 

 these different combinations. 



The study of synonymes has become much easier now than 

 it was at the period of my first edition. Both French and 



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(1) See my Discourse before the Institute on the " Progres de I'Histoire Natu- 

 relle depuis la pais maritime," published in the third volume of my " Eloges." 



