1 52 Natural History. [Chap. IIL 



nia, has made very respectable additions to the 

 zoological science of that country ; and displayed a 

 degree of genius, diligence, learning, and zeal, in 

 this pursuit, which do honour to the rising re- 

 public, and bid fair to place him among the 

 most accomplished and useful naturalists of his 

 time^. Beside the labours of these and other 

 scientific inquirers of Americaf, a large amount of 

 information respecting the animals of that continent 

 have been derived from intelligent foreigners, who 

 have either visited and explored the interior of the 

 country at different periods of the century under 

 review, or devoted themselves to the acquisition of 

 knoAvledge, from various sources, respecting the 

 new world. Among these, Gronovius, Sarragin J, 



* See Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, Essay 

 on the fascinating Foivcr ascribed to ScrpeiUs, &c., and several me- 

 moirs on particular articles in zoology in the American Philoso- 

 phical Transactions. 



t It would be easy to mention tlie names of many respectable 

 American gentlemen, who have done honour to themselves by 

 giving new and valuable descriptions of particular animals M'hich 

 came under their observation. In such a list, Mr. Jefferson, Dr. 

 Mitchill, the rev. Mr.Heckewelder, and a number of others, would 

 be entitled to distinction. To these might be added the names of 

 the rev. Drs. Belknap and Williams, who, in their respective 

 histories of Ncw-I lump shire and Vermont y after the example of 

 Mr. Jefferson in his JSotes on Virginia, have given valuable 

 catalogues of tlie native animals of tliose States. But it is impos- 

 sible for the author, consistently with the hmits which he has 

 prescribed to himself, to indulge the disposition which he feels to 

 enter into such details. 



X M. Sarragin, a French physician, \\ ho resided for some time 

 in Cannula, well deserves to be added to the list of those who 

 Imvc considerably extended our accjuaintance with the animal and 

 \ e.i':etai;le productions of the higher parts of North America. Hi!< 

 J'iil-rcnt mcm^u-s were pubii^hcJ b'jJ.vvccn the years l/OG and 



