iv PREFACE 



belly be streaked with white, it is no other than the Dor, or the May-bug; an animal, tht 

 noxious qualities of which give it a very distinguished rank in the history of the insect crea- 

 tion. In this manner a system of natural history may, in some measure, be compared to a 

 dictionary of words. Both are solely intended to explain the names of things; but wilh 

 this difference, that in the dictionary of words we are led from the name of the thing to 

 its definition ; whereas in the system of natural history, we are led from the definition to 

 find out the name. 



Such are the efforts of writers, who have composed their works with great labour and in- 

 genuity, to direct the learner in his progress through nature, and to inform him of the name of 

 every animal, plant, or fossil substance, that he happens to meet with: but it would be only 

 deceiving the reader to conceal the truth, which is, that books alone can never teach him 

 this art in perfection ; and the solitary student can never succeed. Without a master, and a 

 previous knowledge of many of the objects of nature, his book will only serve to confound 

 and disgust him. Few of the individual plants or animals, that he may happen to meet with, 

 are in that precise state of health, or that exact period of vegetation, from whence their de- 

 scriptions were taken. Perhaps he meets the plant only with leaves, but the systematic wri- 

 ter has described it in flower. Perhaps he meets the bird before it has moulted its first feathers, 

 while the systematic description was made in its state of full perfection. He thus ranges 

 without an instructor, confused, and with sickening curiosity, from subject to subject, till at 

 last he gives up the pursuit, in the multiplicity of his disappointments. 



Some practice, therefore, much instruction, and diligent reading, are requisite to make a 

 ready and expert naturalist, who shall be able, even by the help of a system, to find out the 

 name of every object he meets with. But when this tedious, though requisite, part of study 

 is attained, nothing but delight and variety attend the rest of his journey. Wherever he tra- 

 vels, like a man, in a country where he has many friends, he meets with nothing but ac- 

 quaintances and allurements in all the stages of his way. The mere uninformed spectator 

 passes on in gloomy solitude; but the naturalist, in every plant, in every insect, and every peb- 

 ble, finds something to entertain his curiosity, and excite his speculation. 



From hence it appears, that a system may be considered as a dictionary in the study of 

 nature. The ancients, however, who have written most delightfully on this subject, seem en- 

 tirely to have rejected those humble and mechanical helps to science. They contented 

 themselves with seizing upon the great outlines of history, and passing over what was com- 

 mon, as not worth the detail ; they only dwelt upon what was new, great, and surprising, and 

 sometimes even warmed the imagination at the expense of truth. Such of the moderns as re- 

 vived this science in Europe, undertook the task more methodically, though not in a manner 

 so pleasing. Aldrovandus, Gesner, and Johnson, seemed desirous of uniting the entertaining 

 and rich descriptions of the ancients with the dry and systematic arrangement, of which they 

 were the first projectors. This attempt, however, was extremely imperfect, as the great variety 

 of nature was, as yet, but very inadequately known. Nevertheless, by attempting to carry on 

 both objects at once, first directing us to the name of the thing, and then giving the detail of 

 its history, they drew out their works into a tedious and unreasonable length; and thus mixing 

 incompatible aims, they have left their labours rather to be occasionally consulted, than read 

 with delight, by posterity 



