22 



other species of fishes ; and this difference is often so 

 marked, that people in the country, who are familiar 

 with several localities, profess to be able to designate 

 the locality from which specimens were derived, from 

 the general aspect of the fish. These facts plainly 

 show that very considerable variety may be produced 

 in a species by local circumstances; and since the 

 variation may often be so increased by accidental pecu- 

 liarities in the individuals, which are the progenitors of 

 the species in the new locality, it has appeared to me 

 that naturalists should be more cautious than they 

 seem sometimes to have been, in founding new spe- 

 cies upon variations, which might be supposed to have 

 arisen, in any way, from individual peculiarities, change 

 of habit, or local circumstances, or from all these causes 

 combined. But this is a subject upon which, perhaps, 

 on account of the limited sphere of my observations 

 and knowledge, it is not becoming in me to express an 

 opinion. 



Another very important advantage afforded by the 

 country for the cultivation of natural history, consists 

 in the opportunity which the country furnishes for 

 observing the various productions in their natural rela- 

 tions to their localities. Plants may be studied by the 

 aid of books, and drawings, and herbals, and botanic 

 gardens ; but how imperfect must be the knowledge 

 acquired by the help of all these, without the advan- 

 tage of observing their growth in their native soil in 

 the localities where they were planted and reared by 

 their Creator's hand ! And so too of the various tribes 

 of animated beings. They may be studied in books, 

 and museums, and menageries, to very little purpose, 

 unless they are also studied in the natural conditions, 



