PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



It may cause surprise to some who are not amongst 

 my most intimate friends, that my name should be 

 attached to a volume on any other branch of Natural 

 History than one which is in some way associated 

 with the Vegetable Kingdom. To these it may be 

 necessary to explain that I have only returned on 

 this occasion to an " old love," long deserted for the 

 fascinating charms of "moulds and mildews." In 

 more youthful days I bird's-nested, caught butter- 

 flies and worried reptiles, with all the pertinacity of 

 youth, and amongst all these pursuits acquired a 

 taste for the study of our native birds, reptiles, and 

 insects, which led to my first lessons in the classifica- 

 tory sciences. From these, it is true, I diverged in 



