Xll PREFACE. 



what may be termed the body of the work*. These are 

 then divided into, firstly, such as are found now existing 

 in a truly wild state ; secondly, such as are domesticated, 

 or, when at large, are supposed to have been originally 

 introduced into these Islands; and thirdly, such as were 

 indigenous in former times, but are now extirpated. In 

 the case of the truly wild and now existing species, which 

 of course constitute the great bulk of the Fauna, and which 

 may be subdivided by those who please into Residents, 

 Periodical Visitants, and Stragglers, the names and specific 

 characters are printed in Small Pica; the synonyms and 

 descriptions in Bourgeois. In the case of the domesticated, 

 naturalized, and extirpated species, these types are ex- 

 changed for Bourgeois and Minion respectively ; the first two 

 are, however, particularly distinguished by having an aste- 

 risk (*) prefixed to their names, the last by a dagger ([) 

 in like manner. The second principal division comprises 

 the doubtful natives and doubtful species, which terms are 

 employed in the sense in which they have been already 

 explained. These, although inserted in their proper places 

 in the system, are cut off, as it were, from all those above 

 mentioned, and marked by a distinct numbering enclosed 

 in brackets. The types resorted to are the same as those 

 adopted in the case of the naturalized and extirpated species, 

 but these types are here set a little way in from the margin. 

 By such an arrangement the attention is more readily drawn 

 to these animals which stand in such particular need of fur- 

 ther investigation by the naturalist. 



* It may be here observed, that a single species has been inserted in the 

 body of the work as British, which perhaps is hardly entitled to be considered 

 in that light. The author alludes to the Baleena Physalus, Linn., of the oc- 

 currence of which in our seas, he can find no certain instance on record. He 

 also entertains some doubts respecting the Spurns Aurata, from the circumstance 

 of its having been so often confounded with the S. oentrodontvs. 



