iv PREFACE. 



troduction to more extensive works on the same sub- 

 ject, which will afford the requisite information to 

 minds sufficiently matured. 



With respect to the mode of arrangement that has 

 been adopted, the author wishes to observe, that the 

 Systematic Index at the commencement of the work 

 contains an account of the classes, orders, and tribes 

 of animals, in language as simple, and as free from 

 technical phraseology, as he has found it possible to 

 adopt. In the account of the respective animals, his 

 plan has been, first, to insert a short history of their 

 habits and economy ; and at the conclusion of each, 

 in a separate paragraph, to give a concise but me- 

 thodical description of their form and appearance. 



To two particulars he has been studiously atten- 

 tive. He has inserted no subject whatever which 

 can, in any respect, prove offensive to the most deli- 

 cate female mind. And it has, throughout, been his 

 constant endeavour to divert the attention from 

 second causes, and to turn it to the Almighty and 

 only Source of Being, Power, and Truth. 



" If men are astonished at the power and works of God, let 

 them understand by them how much mightier is he that made 

 them. For, by the greatness and beauty of the creatures, pro- 

 portionably the Maker of them is known." " 



Wisdom of Solomon, 



