1V PREFACE. 
heart has a very decided share in the satis- 
faction with which we contemplate the differ- 
ing instincts, and the happy recklessness of 
beings secondary to ourselves in the scale of 
existence, and is stimulated to fervent acqui- 
escence in the dispensations of Him, whose 
every creation is so distinctly characterized 
by an impress of Wisdom. 
There are many branches of philosophy 
which, at a certain period of their progres- 
sion, cease to be interesting to the majority ; 
but this remark must always be inappli- 
cable to Zoology, in which new disclosures 
of varieties are continually making, and in 
which the relics of structure, as they are from 
time to time brought to light, yield to us 
the most interesting facts and conjectures 
as to the former state of the habitable globe. 
As it will be acknowledged, that perfec- 
tion in a first effort is usually unattainable 
in human productions, (however studiously 
it may be kept in view as an object,) the 
Publishers of this Annual entertain a confi- 
dent reliance on the candour of those -ho 
may patronize it, premising at the sam 
time, that a considerable expansion of the 
