Xll. INTRODUCTION. 



much irregularity or delay in the appearance of the remaining 

 plates. 



Our sincere thanks are respectfully offered to onr patrons 

 for their liberal and generous encouragement of this under- 

 taking, and we beg to assure them we shall ever entertain 

 a hvely sense of the interest they have taken in the Avork, 

 and the substantial support vouchsafed us. A hst of sub- 

 scribers will be found appended to tiiis volume, and far- 

 ther subscriptions will be acknowledged in out next. 



Some of the drawings have been executed by J. W. Au- 

 DUBo.\, under our direction, and he is now engaged in 

 Europe in making figures of those arctic animals, of which 

 accessible specimens exist only in the museirais of that quar- 

 ter of the globe. Many of the backgrounds were painted 

 by V. G. ArDUBO?f. 



Of the manner in which the various artists engaged upon 

 the illustrations, under the direction of Mr. J. T. Bowen, have 

 done their part, our subscribers are able to judge for them- 

 selves : we feel desirous, however, to say, that to our mind 

 the work has been executed in a beautiful style, and we wish 

 publicly to express our thanks to Mr. Bowe^j, to Mr. Trimbly, 

 Mr. Hitchcock, and the other artists who transferred the 

 original drawings to the stone, and to Mr. Bisbaugh, whose 

 impressions from their plates merit our praise. To aO the 

 other artists employed by us we also owe our acknowledg- 

 ments for their valuable assistaiice. 



Of the style in wliich the letter-press is printed, we need 

 only say, it was done at the esrablislmient of Mr. Heivry 

 LuDwiG of this city, and that it has given us satisfaction. - 

 New-York, Novcmljer, 1846. 



