PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



XXI 



splendid works, wherein new species are described and figured, and of which the 

 authors have striven to detect their mutual relations, and to consider them in every 

 point of view.* 



I have endeavoured to avail myself of these discoveries, as far as my plan permitted, 

 by first studying the innumerable specimens received at the Cabinet du Roi, and com- 

 paring them with those which served as the. basis of my first edition, in order 

 thence to deduce new approximations or subdivisions ; and then, by searching in all 

 the books I could procure for the genera or sub -genera established by naturalists, 

 and the descriptions of species by which they have supported these numerous com- 

 binations. 



The determination of synonymes has become much easier now than at the period 

 of my first edition. Both French and foreign naturalists appear to have recognized 

 the necessity of establishing divisions in the vast genera in which such incongruous 

 species were formerly heaped together ; their groups are now precise and well-defined ; 

 their descriptions sufficiently detailed ; their figures scrupulously exact to the most 

 minute characters, and often of the greatest beauty as works of art. Scarcely any 

 difficulty remains, therefore, in identifying their species, and nothing hinders 

 them from coming to an understanding with respect to the nomenclature. This, 

 unfortunately, has been the most neglected ; the names of the same genera, and the 

 same species, are multiplied as often as they are mentioned ; and should this discord 

 continue, the same chaos will be produced that previously existed, though arising 

 from another cause. 



I have used every effort to compare and approximate these redundancies, and, forget- 

 ting even my own trilling interest as an author, have often indicated names which 

 seemed to have been imagined only to escape the avowal of having borrowed my divisions. 

 But thoroughly to execute this undertaking, — this pinax or rectified epitome of the 

 animal kingdom, which becomes every day more necessary, — to discuss the proofs and fix 

 the definitive nomenclature which should be adopted, by basing it on sufficient figures 

 and descriptions, requires more space than I could dispose of, and a time imperatively 

 claimed by other works. In the History of Fishes, which I have commenced pub- 

 lishing, with the assistance of M. Valenciennes, I purpose to give an idea of what 

 appears to me might be effected in aU parts of the science. Here, I only profess to 

 offer an abridged summary — a simple sketch ; — well satisfied if I succeed in rendering 

 this accurate in all its details. 



Various essays of a similar kind have been published on some of the classes, 

 and I have carefully studied them with a view to perfect my own. The Mammalogie 

 of M. Desmarest, that of M. Lesson, the Treatise on the Teeth of Quadrupeds, by 

 -M. Frederic Cuvier, the English translation of my first edition, by Mr. Griffith, 

 enriched by numerous additions, particularly by Hamilton Smith ; the new edition 

 of the Manuel d' Ornithologie of M. Temminck, the Ornithological Fragments of 

 M. Wagler, the History of Reptiles of the late Merrem, and the Dissertation on the 

 same subject by M. Fitsinger, have principally been useful to me for the vertebrated 

 animals. The Histoire des Animaux sans Verttbres of M. de Lamarck, the Malacologie 

 of M. de BlainviUe, have also been of great service to me for the mollusks. To 



• Pee niv dlscnursc before the Institute on the Pro^-rci rfe I'hiUuire naturelle deputs .« piix mantiine, published at the clos<; of the iirft 

 ▼oiuMe of uiy Eloges. 



