36 INTRODUCTION. 



It is scarcely necessary to remark, that these vo- 

 lumes may either be considered as complete in them- 

 selves, or as introductory to a general and particular 

 description of the various tribes of animals. A work 

 on this most extensive subject is a great desideratum 

 in English literature, — not that books on this depart- 

 ment of science are wanting, but because we have 

 none that present a continuous view of the families 

 and species of the different classes, at once intelligi- 

 ble to the student of nature, attractive to the general 

 reader, and free from that meagreness of phraseology 

 necessarily peculiar to the composers of systematic 

 catalogues. 



It is not now required of us to point out the ad- 

 vantages that might result from the establishment 

 of natural history as a branch of popular education. 

 These advantages have been repeatedly pressed on 

 the notice of the public ; and, although the system 

 has not been as yet adopted, the time cannot be far 

 distant when the elements of mineralogy, botany, 

 and zoology shall be taught in our schools, along 

 with those branches of knowledge which at present 

 occupy the field, to the exclusion of others not less 

 adapted for the improvement of the youthful mind. 

 " To constitute such pursuits a prominent part of ele- 

 mentary education," says a popular writer, '' would 

 without doubt be erroneous: it is, however, certain 

 that none are more eminently fitted to fill the 

 minds of youth with admiration of the numerous 

 contrivances and proofs of design afforded in every 

 part of the creation, and to inspire them with 

 exalted conceptions of the Supreme Being."^' We are 



* Quarterly Review, vol, xxxvi. p. 219. 



