SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES, 



By Sir Wm. Jardine, Bart. 



The value of " Whitens Natural History of Seiborne" will be best 

 estimated by the number of editions it has passed through, by 

 the extent of the annotations written upon it (many of them by 

 persons of considerable eminence in science), and by the demand 

 which still continues for the work. 



In 1829, when Mr. Constable had proceeded so far with his 

 " JMiscellany," I was requested to read over and add some notes 

 explanatory of various passages in " Seiborne," which he then 

 proposed to form one of the volumes of his collection. To this I 

 agreed, and that edition is the only one with which I have had 

 any connection whatever. At the disarrangement of Mr. 

 Constable's afiairs, the " Miscellany " fell into other hands ; and 

 editions, in 1832 and 1836, were re-published imder my name, 

 with woodcuts and illustrations, of which I knew nothing. 

 Subsequently, various other editions have been published, some 

 of them copying my notes, others annotating upon them, w^hile 

 one or two contained much original information, and were 

 illustrated by beautiful woodcuts. Mr. Bohn having resolved 

 to re-publish the work, under the charge of Mr. Jesse, in his 

 Standard Library, requested me to make any additions I might 

 think necessary to w^hat I had written in 1829. The request 

 was made too late for these to be inserted in the body of the 

 work ; but, as many of the notes of 1829 were not in accord- 

 ance with our knowledge and the general state of Natural History 

 in 1850, 1 considered the opportunity for correction to be favour- 

 able, and have, accordingly, made a few observations and altera- 

 tions, which are now given in the form of an Appendix, — not 

 that in these I consider the subject exhausted, but that in a 

 work which is so likely to come extensively into the hands of 

 persons of almost every class and age, it Is of the utmost im- 

 portance that all error should be avoided. 



W. J. 

 Jardine Hall, 



UthNov., 1850. 



