PREFACE. Xlll 



Some other matters remain now to be spoken of. It has 

 been already intimated that the descriptions are as far as 

 possible original. It may be added, that in a large number 

 of instances they are derived from recent specimens. It 

 must be obvious, however, that in preparing a work of 

 this nature, there will always be many species, especially 

 among the large marine animals, which it is impossible for 

 any individual to describe from his own observation. In 

 such cases, then, recourse has been had to what have ap- 

 peared the best authorities, more especially to such persons 

 as have published any thing original on the species in 

 question ; and where under such circumstances the accounts 

 of authors differ, the discrepancies are pointed out. It is 

 believed that in almost all the above cases the name of 

 the author, from whom any thing is borrowed, is sub- 

 joined*, who of course is responsible for the accuracy of 

 what is stated. Desmarest and Scoresby (the last for the 

 Cetaceous Animals) are the authorities mostly resorted to 

 in the Class Mammalia ; Temminck in that of Birds ; 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes, as well as Bloch, and occasion- 

 ally Pennant and Donovan, in that of Fish. By some it 

 may be thought that the descriptions are too long, and 

 run needlessly into detail. But when it is considered how 

 many species have been overlooked from their supposed 

 identity with others; how many, some even of the most 

 common occurrence, have been misunderstood, and referred 



* A few instances occur in the Class Mammalia, in which this authority was 

 omitted to be annexed. The cases in question are those of the Extirpated Quad- 

 rupeds, the Common and Great Seals, the Walrus, the Red Deer, the Roe, and 

 two or three of the Cetacea, the descriptions of which have been borrowed, partly 

 from Desmarest, and partly from other sources. There are also three species 

 of Birds similarly circumstanced ; the Shore Lark, the Rock Ptarmigan, and 

 the Virginian Partridge. The description of the first is taken from Temminck 

 and Wilson; that of the second from Sabine, and the "Fauna Boreali-Ame- 

 ricana;" that of the third from Temminck. 



