INTRODUCTION. 



IN every library of any magnitude, there are well written 

 histories of the tenants of the air, from the smallest insect to 

 the " feathered King " that sits on the rocky tops of our ma- 

 jestic hills, and emblems our glory to the world: and of that 

 class, also, which walk the earth, from those that minister to 

 or oppose our comfort and happiness, to the " gigantic un- 

 known," whose ante-deluvian origin appears almost fabulous. 

 Man has analyzed man ; and it has been supposed that the 

 intricate machinery of the greatest work of the Maker, was 

 well understood, yet every day seems to give new and con- 

 vincing proofs that our knowledge is yet but limited. 



The sciences of Phrenology, Electricity, Magnetism, and, 

 more latterly, Mesmerism, are daily opening new fields to 

 the learned and curious; and regions which have formerly 

 been considered as explored to their utmost depths, now prove 

 mines of inexhaustible inquiry. Europe has furnished a 

 GOLDSMITH, a BUFFON, a LINN^US, and a CUVIER, and our 

 own country has not been backward in scientific researches. 



