PREFACE. 



THE object of the present Work is to set forth 

 the Divine Wisdom and goodness as displayed in 

 the animate creation. With this view, the Author 

 has endeavoured so to divest it of mere technicalities 

 as to be intelligible and interesting to general readers, 

 and, at the same time, to render it not unsuited as 

 a manual to those who wish to enter upon the study 

 of Zoology as a science. He has not, therefore, 

 confined himself to the biography of animals, how- 

 ever amusing, but has aimed to shew the amazing 

 diversity in the details of animal structure ; its per- 

 fect adaptation to required functions ; the modification 

 of organs common to various forms; the develope- 

 ment of intelligence; and the union of all into a 

 grand whole, so perfect, so beautifully consistent, 

 that none but an All-wise Mind could have contrived, 

 none but an Almighty Hand could have created it. 



The species selected for illustration are, in many 

 cases, those which are less generally known; and 

 the facts adduced are, it is believed, such as rest 

 on undoubted scientific authority, and are brought 

 down to the present state of science. The Inver- 

 tebrate Classes, hitherto scarcely noticed in our ele- 



