INTRODUCTION, 



" JITN God" (or by Nature's law) " we live and move, and have 

 jjp our being." And Coleridge truly says — 



" He prayeth well who loveth well 

 Both man and bird and beast ; 

 He prayeth best who loveth best 

 All things both great and small. 

 For the dear God who loveth us, 

 He made and loveth all." 



And Robert Burns as truly says — 



" The heart, benevolent and kind, 

 The most resembles God." 



But it all depends upon each one's conception of what God is. 

 For instance, the great German scientist, Humboldt, who spent 

 a large fortune and a long life in scientific pursuits, broadly 

 declared that our world was governed by universal law — not by 

 a God; but, touching upon the inconceivable greatness of 

 infinity, or the unsearchable origin of Nature, we may all say 

 with the wise Athenian, Socrates, " All we know is — nothing can 

 be known." Therefore, on such questions, like Pope, I am 



" Averse alike to flatter or offend, 

 Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend." 



Agreeing with Burns that — 



" The Great Creator to revere 



Must sure become the creature ; 

 But still the preaching cant forbear, 

 And e'en the rigid feature." 



The object of this little work is Truth, having passed through 

 the sieve of the writer's own observations, or from carefully- 

 weighed data — the best finger-posts on the road which leads to 

 the study of Natural History. 



But, first, I will give a sketch of the system upon which 

 scientific works are based, with an outline of genera, families, 



B 



