PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. XXXl 



Nauman, the "Birds of the United States" of Messrs. Wilson, Ord, 

 and Charles Bonaparte*, the great works of M. Spix and of the Prince 

 IMaximilian de Wied on the animals of Brazil, and to those of M. Ferus- 

 sac on the Moliisca. The plates and zoological descriptions of the tra- 

 vels of Messrs. Freycinet and Duperrey, given in the first by Messrs. 

 Quoy and Gaymard, and in the second by Messrs. Lesson and Garnot, 

 present, also, many new objects. The same should be said of the ani- 

 mals of Java, by M. Horsfield. Though, on a smaller scale, new figures 

 of rare species are to be found in the " Memoires du Museum," in the 

 " Annales des Sciences Naturelles," in the different dictionaries of the 

 natural sciences, in the " Zoological Illustrations" of M. Swainson, and 

 in the Zoological Journal published by able naturalists in London. The 

 Journals of the Lyceum of New York, and of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, are not less invaluable ; but in proportion as 

 the taste for natural history becomes extended, and the more numerous 

 the countries in which it is cultivated, the number of its acquisitions in- 

 crease in geometrical progression, and it becomes more and more difficult 

 to collect all the writings of naturalists, and to complete the table of their 

 results; I rely, therefore, on the indulgence of those whose observations 

 may have escaped me, or whose works I may not have studied with as 

 much care as would enable me to avail myself of all which they were 

 capable of affording me. 



My celebrated friend and colleague, M. Latreille, as in the first edi- 

 tion, having consented to take upon himself the important and difficult 

 subject of the Crustacea, Arachnides, and Insects, will himself point out 

 the path he has pursued; so that on these points I need say nothing 

 more at present. 



Jardin du Roi, October, 1828. 



* The work of M. Audubon vipon the Birds of North America, which surpasses 

 all others in magnificence, was unknown to me till after the whole of that part which 

 treats of birds was printed. 



