PREFACE. 



THE favourable reception of the first volume of 

 " the British Naturalist," has convinced the author 

 that the plan, which he has attempted, of repre- 

 senting the works of creation in their natural 

 groupes, is far from the least interesting ; and it is 

 certainly the best and, perhaps, the only way of 

 making the pages of a written book have some 

 resemblance to those of the book of nature, and 

 thus rendering the transition from the closet to 

 the field, a transition in degree only, and not one 

 in kind, as it necessarily is when the plant or 

 the animal, of which the written account has been 

 studied, is found surrounded with other subjects, 

 all of which are unknown, and, as novelties, really 

 have the most attraction. 



M34S974 



