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INTRODUCTION. 



various qualities and uses, and their internal or- 

 ganization, are subjects which have long occupied 

 the attention of observers. In their reproduction, 

 growth, and maturation, phenomena are presented 

 to us, which are well calculated to excite our admi- 

 ration ; and the curious and diversified apparatus 

 of tubes and cells, in which are circulated the fluids 

 derived from the atmosphere and the earth, although 

 apparently more simple than that of the animal eco- 

 nomy, affords a profound as w^ell as an interesting 

 subject of research. 



All parts of the earth's surface, even the deep 

 recesses of caves and mines, the snows of the polar 

 and alpine regions, and the bottom of the sea, are 

 more or less covered with plants. The same may 

 be said respecting animals, which, being much more 

 diversified in their forms and internal structure, and 

 endowed with more wonderful faculties, lead the 

 mind, by the contemplation of their mechanism and 

 habits, to a nearer approach to the great Creator 

 of all things. 



From the gigantic elephant that roams among the 

 splendid forests of the warmer regions of the earth, 

 the unwieldy hippopotamus that plunges in the 

 pools and marshes of the African wilds, and the 

 timid and graceful giraffe that bounds over the 

 sandy desert, down to the little dormouse that we 

 find slumbering in its winter retreat, to the lem- 

 ming that in congregated myriads overruns the 

 fields of the North, or to the mole that burrows 

 under our feet, we find an astonishing variety of 

 beings, exhibiting forms, instincts, passions, and 

 pursuits, which adapt them for the occupation of 

 every part of the globe. The woods, the plains, the 



