PREFACE 



In the course of the pubUcation of the present Volume, we have 

 complied with the general request of our correspondents, and 

 brought out the Magazine of Natural History monthly, at a re- 

 duced price. This will enable us to give a more ready insertion to 

 the articles of our contributors, and, we trust, will prompt them to 

 continue and to increase their communications. 



In taking a general survey of the progress of Natural History 

 during the past year, it is gratifying to observe the establishment 

 of Natural History Societies, one after another, in many parts of 

 the country. The British Association has given a grand stimulus 

 to natural history pursuits ; and the personal intercourse, among 

 naturalists, to which it has led, cannot fail to be highly favourable 

 to science, and to good feeling among scientific men. By this 

 means, also, the great object of science, viz., that of reducing it to 

 practice, and rendering it available for the purposes of domestic 

 and general improvement, is likely to be more immediately effected, 

 than by the single influence of the press. The Natural History 

 Societies of York, Newcastle upon Tyne, Worcester, Bristol, Bel- 

 fast, and various other places, and the Entomological Society of 

 London, are in a flourishing condition, and some of them have 

 begun to publish volumes of their Transactions. Not only are new 

 periodicals, devoted wholly or partly to natural history, being 

 established in the metropolis, but also in the provinces. Among 

 these deserve more especially to be mentioned, the EntomologiQal 

 Magazine of London, and the Analyst of Worcester, 



The Continent of Europe, and more especially France and Ger- 

 many, may be considered as having been long in advance of Britain 

 in natural history pursuits. In the United States of America 

 Natural History Societies are on the increase, and, what redounds 

 much to the honour of a new country, The American Journal of 

 Science (Silliman's) has been some years established, and continues 

 to be respectably supported. There are societies in India which 



A 2 



