INTRODUCTION. 15 



lieve, exceeding the capacity of any individual, for of many it is incon- 

 ceivably obscure. The drawings and descriptions must compensate 

 numerous omissions. 



Tlie former have been an object of especial solicitude. None but 

 living subjects, and those in the highest health and vigour are repre- 

 sented, independently of the best specimens attainable having been uni- 

 formly selected. Whatever influence internal anatomy may have in fix- 

 ing our ultimate arrangements, external configuration is undeniably the 

 primary guide, and the basis of our /^?v'7«ff?7/ judgment. In truth, it can 

 admit of no substitute. 



But, in accepting it, we must beware of allowing those trivial pecu- 

 liarities whereon less experienced naturaUsts repose their confidence, as 

 constituting the character of animals, which should be ever distinguished 

 by the strongest features. If systematic arrangements govern the relati^'e 

 position of animals, they are framed in heaven, not on earth. 



Neither should the naturalist, impatient for the disclosures of dis- 

 section, defeat the possibility of detecting habits from permanent oblite- 

 ration, by the premature destruction of his specimen, — to say nothing of 

 the cruelty of such an alternative. 



The diSiculty of preserving correct and suitable delineations is fre- 

 quently very great, and all artists have to undergo a certain peculiar 

 education in qualifying themselves for their task. Figures are of little 

 avail, unless they be both good and faithful representations of the origi- 

 nal, and taken at the most propitious moment. I can truly affirm that 

 only the best and most satisfactory have been admitted here. 



Striking inequaUties must prevail in the composition of such a work 

 as this, from causes too obvious to require enumeration. Hence many 

 imperfections. 



But, on all occasions, I have anxiously studied brevity, and, in as 

 far as in my power, to render the subject explicit. 



