INTRODUCTION. .*, ] 



J'<jt. ;,r< : Fishes, constituting, as they do, the prin- 

 cipal inhabitants of by far the largest portion of our 

 ;:lobe, worthy of 'no greater attention than this? 

 i ure less wonderful, or are their habits 



less interesting, than those of the animals with 

 which we are for the most part better acquainted ? 

 On the contrary, is it not reasonable to suppose that 

 the investigation of the structure, and functions, 

 :MJ'! habits of animals, so peculiarly circumstanced, 

 "ill open to us sources of admiration and delight, 

 as extensive as they are novel ; and, by furnishing 

 us with so many new associations, render us 

 hotter informed with respect to animals, concerning 

 which, we may flatter ourselves, We have little or 

 nothing to know? 



Jf it be, in general, true, that it is impossible to 

 bo thoroughly acquainted with any one department 

 of science without having a considerable insight 

 into many others, it is no where more so than in 

 /oology; each department of which is connected 



so many, and such intricate links with every 

 other, that, in order to be accurately acquainted 

 with the* organs and functions of any one tribe of 



nals, it is essential that we be at least me 

 rat fly well informed respecting those of all the rest. 

 < ,'ould we suppose a person acquainted with merely 

 human anatomy and physiology, however perfectly, 

 how circumscribed would be his real knowledge of 

 the structure and offices even of the human frame ' 

 'I'll us isolated, it would be, not knowledge, pro- 

 perly so called, but memory. But let such a person 



