COMMON MARTEN. 211 



accurate observer of nature, and sincere lover of truth, ac- 

 knowledges his doubts upon the subject, Buflbn embraces 

 and maintains their distinctness with liis accustomed 

 sacrifice or distortion of facts, apparently only to afford 

 him an opportunity of displaying the usual eloquence of 

 his comparisons or contrasts. Pennant takes the same 

 view, in which he has been followed by subsequent 

 British faunists, as well as by Blasius in his " Suugethiere 

 Deutschlands." Our late valued friend, Edward T. Ben- 

 nett, Esq., formerly the accomplished secretary of the 

 Zoological Society, drew up an interesting and very 

 lucid statement of these various opinions, and the 

 grounds on which they have been maintained, in his 

 usual masterly manner, including in this comparison the 

 Sable, which future observations may perhaps prove to 

 be merely a variety of the Pine Marten.* 



A deliberate consideration of these and other autho- 

 rities, and a comparison of many specimens of both 

 kinds, had, when the first edition of this work was 

 written, failed to lead us to a conclusion at all satisfac- 

 tory to our own mind, and it was only with the precau- 

 tion of a protest against being considered as decidedly 

 supporting the ojiinion that ihey are essentially different, 

 that we ventured then to assign to them a distinctive, 

 specific character. Impressed Avith these difficulties, we 

 some time since invited, through the medium of the 



* At the very hour when the author was writing the above sentence, the 

 sanguine hopes which a sudden improvement in Mr. Bennett's health had 

 raised, were at once cruslied ; and frieiidsliip and science have to mourn to- 

 gether a loss which can scarcely be repaired. This excellent jierson was alike 

 distinguished by the extent of his information, the solidity of his judgment, 

 the afTcctionato sincerity of his heart, and the high unflinching rectitude of 

 his life. Under a retiring and modest exterior, he possessed qualities which 

 might have adorned a far more public and prominent career than his ; but, 

 loving science and his friends for tlicir own sake, he was satislied with the 

 approbation of the wise, and the all'ectiou of those who enjoyed the happiness 

 and privilege of his regard. — Note to the First Edition. 



