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 PREFACE. 



WRITERS on Natural History have spoken concern- 

 ing the animals and plants of different zones and 

 climates indiscriminately; I venture to separate 

 them, and to select from among the forests and 

 savannas of the New "World such as most especially 

 illustrate the wisdom and beneficence of their 

 Creator. These sketches will not be confined merely 

 to the details of Natural History; they will com- 

 prise whatever is most beautiful or curious, either 

 in the scenery by which the subjects of them were 

 surrounded, or in their wonderful adaptation to the 

 sites which they are designed to occupy. 



I may not venture to assert that this idea is 

 exclusively my own, yet, assuredly, it has not been 

 generally adopted; for the history of plants has, in 



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