XIV PREFACE. 



work extant wherein the Zoology of the Order Cetacea, 

 and the Oceanic Inhabitants of the Arctic Regions, is 

 concisely and accurately described. The author having, 

 in order to obtain the requisite materials for this work, 

 visited the Greenland and adjacent seas in the year 1824, 

 as principal surgeon of the ship Neptune of London, 

 where he had numerous opportunities of observing these 

 creatures, of which he availed himself; and has accord- 

 ingly endeavoured to fill up this important chasm in 

 Zoological Literature, by correctly detailing his own 

 observations, combined with all that was accurate and 

 valuable in the various authors who have written upon 

 Zoology, or scattered in the various periodicals. 



This work embraces a comprehensive account of the 

 Natural History of every known animal inhabiting the 

 Polar Seas, from the mighty Leviathan of the deep 

 down to the almost invisible animalculse ; and from the 

 circumstance of these dreary regions having been so 

 recently visited by that intrepid and scientific navigator, 

 Captain Ross, who has so much enriched our geogra- 

 phical knowledge of these bleak abodes, by his valuable 

 and important discoveries ; the author flatters himself, 

 in consequence of this fact, that this hitherto neg- 

 lected department of the Arctic Oceanic Zoology, will 

 be perused with a greater degree of interest by his sub- 

 scribers, than it might otherwise have possessed. The 

 author has endeavoured to render the language easy and 

 comprehensive (devoid of technical terms), but at the 

 same time equally valuable to the practical Zoologist 

 and the man of science, as it is interesting and instruc- 

 tive to the general reader. 



Palmam qui meruit ferat is the motto, which was 



