PREFACE. vii 



Prodromus Histories Naturalis, &e. Edin. 1684, and his History 

 ancient and modem of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross, 

 Edin. 1710 (the 8vo edition, Cupar, 1803, is the one now ge- 

 nerally quoted), had bestowed much attention on the characters 

 of the different kinds of whales which had been captured in 

 the Scottish seas, or stranded on various parts of the coast. His 

 Phalainologia Nova, Edin. 1692, rescued this department of 

 zoology from the obscurity in which it had previously been in- 

 volved. A reprint of this work, at the instigation of Mr Pen- 

 nant, took place in 1773, and is the edition now in general 

 circulation. 



The Birds of Britain were enumerated and described with 

 great precision in the Ornithologia of Francis Willoughby, 

 a work edited, after the death of the worthy author, by Ray in 

 1676. An English translation was at the same time published, 

 with some additions ; and, in 1713, an abridgement made its 

 appearance, under the title Joannis Rah Synopsis methodica 

 Avium ; opus posthumum ; edited- by the venerable Derham. 



The native Reptiles are few in number, and are well de- 

 scribed by Ray in the Synopsis already referred to. Few ad- 

 ditions of any value by subsequent authors have hitherto been 

 communicated. 



Fishes occupied the attention of Willoughby. His Ich- 

 thyologia, as edited by Ray, Oxford 1 686, is a work of great 

 labour ; and the descriptions, especially of British species, are 

 models of precision. A few additions were afterwards made 

 to this division of the British Fauna by Ray in his Synopsis 

 methodica Piscium, London 1713, chiefly from the contribu- 

 tions of the Rev. George Jago of Loo. 



While the History of the Vertebral Animals was thus assi- 

 duously cultivated by individuals well qualified for the task, the 

 Invertebral kinds were not overlooked. 



The Mollusca were diligently investigated by Martin 

 Lister, and the descriptions of many species in the Cochlearum 

 Anglice Historia, which forms a part of his Historia Animalium 

 AnglicB, London 1678, are minute and illustrative. But the 

 greatest service which Lister rendered to this department of 

 science arose from the publication in 1685 of his Historia sive 

 Synopsis methodica Conchyliorum. The plates of this valuable 



