AVANT-PKOPOS. 



HE eventful year One Thousand Eight Hundred 

 and Seventy is near its close. In the history 

 of many nations of Europe it will long stand 

 prominent as one of the most important years 

 during the century. To some it has been a 

 year of success ; to others a year of failure ; to 

 most a year of privation, pain, and excitement, 

 to all a year not soon to be forgotten. The close of 

 this year is also the close of our Sixth Volume, a small 

 event compared with the great ones to which allusion 

 has been made, still to us and our readers not altogether 

 unimportant. The sixth volume of a Journal devoted 

 to Natural History is nowadays something worthy of 

 remembrance, an event to be proud of; therefore we 

 congratulate all our readers, especially those with whom 

 we have gossiped from 1865 to 1870, that they are 

 still " Lovers of Nature," and that we continue to pro- 

 vide for them " an Illustrated Medium of Interchange and Gossip. 



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As we spread open our six volumes before us, shall we say 

 with their million of facts ? — perhaps so — with their fifteen hundred 

 illustrations, with their fifteen hundred and upwards of pages of 

 information, we cannot but think that there are many who also 

 congratulate us, and who feel that we deserve their congratula- 

 tions for our successes rather than condemnation for our failures. 

 It can hardly be supposed that nobody condemns us — we never dreamt 

 such a pleasant dream as that of pleasing everybody — and we have never 

 flattered ourselves on having attained perfection ; all we lay claim to is 

 — that we have honestly endeavoured to do our best to achieve success 

 and merit approval, so that, failing, we might fail with a clear conscience. 



It would be base ingratitude in us to forget, at such a time as this, 

 how much we are indebted to others, and how highly we esteem all the 



