10 INTRODUCTION. 



Ichthyology.* Can there be a question as to whether 

 that observant naturalist, had he been so situated, 

 would not have given us just as entertaining and 

 instructive a volume, as that he has left us in his 

 Natural History of Selborne ? It was not the exact 

 locality in which he was placed, but the inquisitive 

 turn of his mind, and the ardent zeal with which he 

 devoted himself to the study of Nature, that enabled 

 him to glean those materials, which have afforded so 

 much delight to the present generation. He him- 

 self observes in another passage of his book, " that 

 that district produces the greatest variety, which is 

 the most examined ;"f and few, who reflect on the 

 many novelties constantly occurring in certain dis- 

 tricts, where there happen to be more observers 

 than elsewhere, will be disposed to question the 

 general truth of this statement. 



(8.) It is doubtless in a great measure owing to 

 the influence which White's Natural History of 

 Selborne has exercised on the present generation, 

 that the science has had so many followers in this 

 country of late years. It is not that his work 

 carries us any great way in unravelling the mysteries 

 of Nature, but it is the spirit which it breathes that 

 so strongly recommends it to our notice. He has 

 induced others to follow up the same sort of life 

 which had such charms for himself; and to him we 

 are indebted for many volumes besides his own, of 

 which the authors, by their own acknowledgment, 

 were first excited and trained to habits of observing, 



* Nat. Hist, of Sett. Lett. xxi. to Pennant, 

 f Id. Lett. xx. to the same. 



