PREFACE. 



JOHANN Reinhold Forster, the well-known Natu- 

 ralist, was born at Dirschau in Prussia in 1729, and 

 came to England along with his son George Forster, 

 in order to accompany the circumnavigator Cook on 

 his second voyage. 



During his residence in England, before the departure 

 of Cook's Expedition (which took place on the 9th of April, 

 1772), Forster translated and published an English edition 

 of Kalm's "Travels into North America," in the prefaces 

 to which (Vol. i. p. xv. and Vol. iii. p. vii.) will be found 

 allusions to a projected "American Fauna and Flora." 

 But the present list, as acknowledged by the author himself 

 in his preface, was planned and indeed commenced by 

 Pennant, who in his "Literary Life" (p. 14) writes, "In 

 "this year (1771) doctor Forster published a catalogue 

 "of the animals of North America. I had begun the 

 "work by a list of the quadrupeds, birds and fishes. 

 " Doctor Forster added all the rest ; and afterwards, in 

 " a new edition, favored the world with a most comprehen- 

 " sive Flora of that vast country, with a catalogue of 

 " insects, and the directions for preserving natural curiosities. 

 " My part in this work is of so little merit, that it need not 

 " be boasted of. I only lay claim to my proper right." 



