PREFACE. 



Perhaps no book was ever so soon, so generally, and with so little envy, ad 

 mitted to take its place at the head of that department of knowledge to which 

 it belongs, as the Regne Animal of the illustrious Baron Cuvier. This is a 

 hio-h, but a just tribute, both to the work and the author ; for it at once showed 

 that the former is what had long been required, and that the latter was as 

 much admired for the comprehensive range and unprecedented accuracy of his 

 views, as he was beloved for the kindness and urbanity of his manners. 



It must, indeed, be admitted, that, until Cuvier's great work made its 

 appearance, we had no modern systematic arrangement of animals which 

 applied equally to all the Classes, Orders, and Families ; — which brought the 

 extinct species into their proper situations in the living catalogue, and enabled 

 every discoverer of a new animal, or part of an animal, instantly to connect it 

 Avith its proper tribe or family. Important, however, as are the labours of this 

 great naturalist, they could not possibly extend beyond the limits of what was 

 known ; and as Cuvier was no speculative theorist, but a rigid adherent to 

 nature and fact, he kept his system considerably within the limits of those who 

 were more speculative, and consequently less accurate. 



For students, no work is equal to that of Cuvier, for it is at once compre- 

 hensive and concise ; and though the student may choose a particular depart- 

 ment, and require books more in detail with reference to that department, he 

 must still have the Regne Animal to point out to him the general analogies 

 of tlie living creation. The present work is a complete Cuvier, as regards the 

 essential part of the arrangement; audit is not a mere translation, but in 

 some respects a new book, embodying the original one. 



The translations of the respective divisions of the work, and their adaptations 

 to the advanced state of science, have been executed by the undernoted gentle- 

 men, viz. : — 



