PREFACE 



PERFECTION, says the scholiast, is the first in inten- 

 tion and the last in execution, 



To Man r " the last and best of all God's works," has 

 alone been committed the power of collection, arrange- 

 ment, discrimination, and description. 



Whatever materials- conjunetly compose the whole of 

 the globe he inhabits, are individually, the objects of in- 

 vestigation to the philosopher and the naturalist: for as 

 the whole is composed of the parts, the most humble and 

 minute of created substances holds its effective rank in 

 this great and august assemblage. 



The various subjects of creation are arranged into the 

 three KINGDOMS of ANIMALS, VEGETABLES and MINE- 

 RALS. These several Kingdoms are distributed into 

 CLASSES, which are reduced into ORDERS : the orders 

 are divided intd GENERA or families, ultimately sub- 

 divided into SPECIES or individuals, with their accidental 

 varieties. 



Local arrangements, systematically exhibited, have ever 

 been considered as highly subservient to a general know- 

 ledge of natural history; inasmuch as by the contempla- 

 tion of a smaller range, the various objects contained in it 

 may be more accurately examined and described. 



The Fauna of the British Islands, has hitherto bee* 

 only attempted, according to the Linnean system, in the 

 imperfect Synopsis of Berkenhouf. 



