142 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



CHAP. XL 



Natural history of the jerbo of Egypt, with remarks 

 on natural history in general, and a note respecting 

 a plan of travelling into the interior of Africa. 



What the reader is now going to peruse has 

 been already published, a great part of it at least, 

 in the Journal of Physics of the month of Novem - 

 ber 1789. I at that time determined to lay before 

 the public my observations on the jerbo, because 

 BufFon, not having been able to procure a single 

 individual of this genus of quadrupeds, nor accu- 

 rate information respecting their manner of life, 

 has described it from very defective information. 

 The work of Mr. Bruce, who has preceded me in 

 the publication of his travels, as he had likewise 

 preceded me in the expedition itself, had not yet 

 appeared at the period when my memoir was 

 printed. That illustrious traveller has confirmed 

 what I had said on the subject of the jerbo, and he 

 has enabled me to rectify a mistake in nomencla- 

 ture into which I was led, and BufFon before me, 

 on the authority of one of his compatriots, Dr. 

 Shaw, by a false application of name. But how- 

 ever interesting the notes respecting the jerbo may 

 be, which are introduced into Mr. Bruce's travels, 



mine, 



