x PREFACE. 



Rev. L. Jenynsj and of the Reptiles, by Mr. Bell. I hav 

 appended to the descriptions of each species an account of its 

 habits and range. These works, which I owe to the high 

 talents and disinterested zeal of the above distinguished authors, 

 could not have been undertaken, had it not been for the liberality 

 of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, who 

 through the representation of the Right Honourable the Chan- 

 cellor of the Exchequer, have been pleased to grant a sum of 

 one thousand pounds towards defraying part of the expenses of 

 publication. 



I have myself published separate volumes on the "Structure 

 and Distribution of Coral Reefs ; " on the " Volcanic Islands 

 visited during the Voyage of the Beagle ; " and a third volume 

 frill soon appear on the " Geology of South America." The 

 sixth volume of the " Geological Transactions " contains two 

 papers of mine on the Erratic Boulders and Volcanic Phenomena 

 of South America. I intend hereafter to describe, in a set of 

 papers, some of the marine invertebrate animals collected during 

 the voyage. Mr. Bell, I hope, will describe the Crustacea, and 

 Mr. Sowerby the shells. Messrs. Waterhouse, Walker, New- 

 man, and White have published several able papers on the 

 Insects which were collected, and I trust that many others will 

 hereafter follow. The plants from the southern parts of America 

 will be given by Dr. J. Hooker, in his great work on the Botany 

 of the Southern Hemisphere. The Flora of the Galapagos 

 Archipelago is the subject of a separate memoir by him, in the 

 " Linnean Transactions." The Reverend Professor Henslow 

 has published a list of the plants collected by me at the Keeling 

 Islands; and the Reverend J. M. Berkeley has described my 

 cryptogamic plants. 



I shall have the pleasure of acknowledging the great assist- 

 ance which I have received from several other naturalists in the 

 course of this and my other works ; but I must be here allowed 

 to return my most sincere thanks to the Reverend Professor 

 Henslow, who, when I was an under-graduate at Cambridge, 

 was one chief means of giving me a taste for Natural History, 

 who, during my absence, took charge of the collections I sent 

 home, and by his correspondence directed my endeavours, and 

 who, since my return, has constantly rendered me every assist- 

 ance which the kindest friend could offer. 



June, 1845. 



