VI PREFACE. 



sources of information ; and has endeavoured to adopt the 

 most approved systems of Classification. As scarcely any 

 two Naturalists agree, however, on this head, the choice 

 has been frequently a matter of difficulty ; and he cannot 

 suppose that he has been always equally successful. He has 

 adopted as his chief guides, the last Edition of the Synopsis 

 of the British Museum ; and the Pictorial Museum of 

 Natural History, at present in course of publication : and 

 to the latter of these works he is also under great obliga- 

 tion, for numerous details, obtained from sources to which 

 he might not otherwise have gained access. 



A little reflection will show, that any general Zoological 

 Treatise must necessarily be in great part a Compilation 

 from the works of other Naturalists ; and the merit of an 

 Elementary work like the present, must consist rather in 

 the judgment shown in the selection and arrangement of 

 the materials, than in the originality of its contents. How 

 far the Author has succeeded in his present attempt, it will 

 be for his readers to decide. 



