Xll 



detached organ, unless the condition of the rest of the organiza- 

 tion, and the habits and mode of life of the species, be known ; 

 but to this end the name of the species from which the detached 

 organ was derived is indispensable : without this fact, the con- 

 templation of the most elaborately dissected specimen can yield 

 little satisfactory information, and to determine it became there- 

 fore the first and most essential step in the formation of a cata- 

 logue of the physiological specimens. This part of their history 

 has in most cases been effected by a comparison of the Huuterian 

 preparations with recent dissections. The series of ' Natural 

 History/ or entire animals preserved in the Museum, the nume- 

 rous specimens presented by different travellers, and the per- 

 mission liberally granted by the council of the Zoological Society, 

 of taking to the College of Surgeons for comparison the viscera 

 of the animals dying in their extensive menagerie, have afforded 

 such means of instituting the requisite examinations, that the 

 expectation expressed in the Preface to the First Volume of the 

 present work, " that few of the preparations will ultimately be 

 " found deficient in that part of their history which is most esseu- 

 " tial to their utility/' has been fully realized. 



In some instances the unknown specimens have been deter- 

 mined by sufficiently characteristic descriptions and figures in 

 the published works on comparative anatomy. In many cases 

 sufficient of the animal has been preserved to determine the 

 species from external zoological characters, and of these the 

 smaller Invertebrate animals are the chief examples. In most 

 instances this information has been gained by comparison with 

 recent dissections. 



The species of organized beings dissected by Mr. Hunter are 

 systematically arranged in the * Zoological Index ' to the five 

 volumes comprising the present catalogue. This index will show 

 at a glance the range of Mr. Hunter's researches in comparative 

 anatomy ; and the zoological writer will readily find what pro- 

 portion of the anatomy of the species under his consideration 

 may be studied in the Museum of the College. 



The wishes and the convenience of physiological visitors have 

 been considered in the formation of another index u which the 



