LETTER 



TO 



MONSIEUR E. J. TEMMINCK, 



CHEVALIER OF THE LION OF THE NETHERLANDS ; DIRECTOR 



OF THE MUSEUM OF THE LOW COUNTRIES ; MEMBER OF 



VARIOUS ACADEMIES AND LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



The origin of the work which I now publish, goes back 

 to the first period of my studies ; I therefore may regard 

 it as my first effort in natural history. You have granted 

 me the favour of placing your name at the head of my book : 

 this distinguished honour offers me the most suitable op- 

 portunity of publicly testifying to you my gi^atitude, and of 

 shewing to the scientific world how much you have contri- 

 buted to facilitate my researches, or rather how it is to you 

 that the publication is due. After the departure of our 

 unfortunate friend Boie for India, you had the goodness 

 to confide to my care the extensive collections which in- 

 clude the vertebrate animals, comparative anatomy, and 

 the fossils, — collections forming the finest part of the Mu- 

 seum of the Netherlands. Incited by the example of my 

 learned predecessor, and hoping to be useful to science, by 

 cultivating a branch of zoology hitherto neglected, I di- 



